Dutta Vs Dutta

Plot

Biren Dutta is a lawyer. He is unsuccessful in his career and does not have any client. His wife is an alcoholic.The couple has one son and one daughter. Biren Dutta has an extra-marital affair with his only client. Biren's daughter China first falls in love with Ghenti Kaku who is of her father's age and later falls in love with a guy who is involved with Naxalite movement and finally runs away with him without the permission of her parents. Their teenager son Rono comes back from boarding school since their father could not pay his tuition fees. Dutta wants his son to be a barrister but his son wants to become an actor. Father of Dutta comes back briefly and starts a music school within the house. Later Biren Dutta's daughter comes back with her Naxal husband, which makes the father moist and accept him.The couple later settles in the US. In the meanwhile one of Rono's Naxalite friends takes shelter in the house to evade police. Biren Dutta was unaware of this and when the police knocked at the house searching for the boy, he challenges the police. The police takes him away to police station to drop him after 3 days, brutally beaten up. This causes a major setback to Dutta and since then he stops talking to anyone. At the end, Rono gets a chance in a film by Mrinal Sen (Anjan Dutta's first film was also with Mrinal Sen) - the movie ends at that positive note.

Cast

Crew

Filming

In this film director Anjan Dutt has tried to revive Calcutta of the 1970s, a period when the city evidenced emergence of rock music bands, the arrival of Hippie culture and also the Naxalite movement. In an interview he told–

Unlike other films which have the shade of the Naxalite violence, Dutta Vs Dutta has taken a different direction. I have tried to recapture the turbulent College Street, the pub culture of Park Street and the emergence of Gautam Chattopadhyay.

Arpita Paul gave full credit to the director for the realistic portrayal of her character. She told– "It is a very different kind of movie by Anjanda with realistic elements that would help the audience to relate to the period and the characters... "

Indraneil Sengupta, another actor of the film told– "Everybody in the cast acted their part to bring back that era, which rocked Kolkata and neighbourhood, about which we heard so many things, alive."

Critical reception

The film received positive reviews. According to Anandabazar Patrika critic Sangeeta Bandopadhyay, this was Anjan Dutt's best film. This opinion was supported by another Bengali newspaper Ei Samay too. Anandabazar Patrika gave the film 9 out of 10. The Times of India gave it 3½ stars out of 5 stars but they also mentioned– "the plot comes across as a total mishmash and therefore, loses punch".