Shot ever so beautifully, Chittagong is a textured film, but too many songs and an overlong narrative causes your attention to dither towards the end. Pain, an ex-NASA scientist, makes a confident debut with this moving drama. I’m going with three out of five for Chittagong. It’s a significant film that’s worthy of your time.

This is a film that needs watching, because if we don’t, we will forget. And that would be tragic.

And while Chittagong falls well short of being a great film, it can’t help but be an important one. And Pain keeps it honest.

An absolute must watch.

What makes Chittagong particularly special is the way it depicts heroism not as muscle-flexing, chest-thumping, rhetoric-driven bravado (as in standard ‘war’ films) but simply as audacious acts of defiance by ordinary people in the face of grave risk and the prospect of inevitable failure.

This is a serious film – but far from somber, a tongue-tied Nirmal blushingly telling Priti, “Mujhe tumhare pyaar karne ki – matlab, larne ki shiddat bahut pasand hai,” the brigade’s youthful high spirits including stripping British guards and making them do utthak-baithak, and finally, the real ‘Jhunku’ or Subodh Roy talking about his life’s most amazing experience. Like a Chittagong orchid, the movie takes time to blossom – but when it does, it’s beautiful. And pleases a certain master.

Well-crafted and compelling.

On the whole, CHITTAGONG is a film of immense significance. Much like some of the hi-concept films that left an indelible impression on the minds of viewers, CHITTAGONG should also last longer in the hearts of cineastes. Not to be missed!

Bedabrata Pain’s Chittagong is a fitting tribute to one of the most important chapters in Indian history. This delightfully intense film makes you believe that one doesn’t need a thumping background score and over-the-top melodrama to portray patriotism. All you need is a heart that beats for your nation and a fire within.

CHITTAGONG is a film that should reach all schools, colleges and corporate houses. It gives you an insight of how the freedom we now enjoy was fought for bravely by youngsters, who put country over self.

Chittagong doesn’t portray the Britishers as only ogres and sadists. Thank Goodness for some restraint in the conflict. For cinema to accommodate history, there must be a sense of balance between drama and authenticity. Chittagong manages that balance quite well. One misses the sharp high points of drama that constitute the historical epics in Holywood by, say, David Lean. Bedabrata Pain. I suspect, doesn’t strive to create history, he recreates it.

In totality, ‘Chittagong’ is a must watch for all those, who love their country.