''Rajkahini'' (English: ''Tale of Kings'', can also be called ''Tale of the

Raj Raj or RAJ may refer to: History * British Raj, the 1858–1947 rule of the British Crown over India * Company Raj, the 1757–1858 rule of the East India Company in South Asia * Licence Raj, the Indian system of elaborate licences, regulation ...

'') is an Indian

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

-language

historical drama film A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and sw ...

directed by

Srijit Mukherji Srijit Mukherji is an excellent national award winning Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Bengali cinema. His regular collaboration with veteran actor Prosenjit Chatterjee brought him into the limelight. His first ...

. The shooting of the film completed in June 2015 and the film released on 16 October 2015. The film has an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast t ...

of eleven major female characters led by

Rituparna Sengupta Rituparna Sengupta is an Indian actress and producer who is known for her work in Bengali cinema and Hindi cinema. One of the most successful actresses of Bengali cinema, she rode the crest of her box office success in the late 1990s. She won ...

and also stars

Saswata Chatterjee Saswata Chatterjee (born 19 December 1970) is an Indian actor of television and films based in Kolkata. Born to actor Subhendu Chatterjee, Saswata Chatterjee began his career with a Hindi serial directed by Saibal Mitra, based on Samaresh Maju ...

Kaushik Sen Koushik Sen (born 19 September 1968) is an Indian actor of film, television and theatre based in Kolkata. He is the director of the well-acclaimed theatre group Swapnasandhani. He has won the BFJA awards for best supporting actor for his perfor ...

Jisshu Sengupta Jisshu Ujjwal Sengupta (born 15 March 1977) is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter. who predominantly works in Bengali, Hindi and Telugu films. Sengupta made his debut through a Bengali TV series, '' Mahaprabhu'' where he portraye ...

Abir Chatterjee Abir Chatterjee (born 18 November 1980) is an Indian actor who mainly works in Bengali cinema. He is the son of theater personalities Phalguni Chatterjee and Rumki Chatterjee. He started his career with Bengali television and made his debut i ...

and

Jaya Ahsan Jaya Maswood (born 1 July), commonly known as Jaya Ahsan, is a Bangladeshi actress and producer. Starting her career as a model and, later, as a television actress, she currently works mostly in Bangladeshi and Indian Bengali films. She won Ban ...

in other pivotal roles. It has been remade in Hindi by Mukherji as '' Begum Jaan''. The film was Critically and commercial success. The film was super-hit at box-office surpassing the record of ''

Shudhu Tomari Jonyo ''Shudhu Tomari Jonyo'' ( en, Only for You) is a Bengali language romantic drama film directed by Birsa Dasgupta and produced by Shree Venkatesh Films. The film stars Dev, Srabanti Chatterjee, Soham and Mimi Chakraborty in the lead roles. ...

''.

Plot

In June 1947, the British passed a bill regarding the partition of Bengal. Delving into the grim history of the Partition, Srijit's movie ''Rajkahini'' is weaved around a border between the two nations that runs through a

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub p ...

housing eleven

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

was broken up twice (

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony is ...

, and then during Independence) - officially for demographic reasons and ease of administration - but actually, it was a strictly political move to curtail Bengal politics. The narrative follows the erection of the

Radcliffe Line The Radcliffe Line was the boundary demarcated between the Indian and Pakistani portions of the Punjab Province and Bengal Presidency of British India. It was named after Cyril Radcliffe, who, as the joint chairman of the two boundary commiss ...

as the

boundary Boundary or Boundaries may refer to: * Border, in political geography Entertainment * ''Boundaries'' (2016 film), a 2016 Canadian film * ''Boundaries'' (2018 film), a 2018 American-Canadian road trip film *Boundary (cricket), the edge of the pla ...

between the newly formed nations of

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

and

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

(present day

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

). As both the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

and the

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. ** Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the orga ...

battle it out in courtrooms as to which side of Bengal will get which territory, in another part of Bengal is a brothel, situated right in the middle of Debiganj and Haldibari districts, which is the home and the world to eleven women and two men. Begum Jaan ( Rituparna) is the boss, while the other women work under her as

prostitutes Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pen ...

. Begum's faithful bodyguard is Saleem Mirza ( Nigel Akkara), a Pathan, and Sujan (

Rudranil Ghosh Rudranil Ghosh is an Indian actor who works primarily in Bengali films. Education Rudranil Ghosh completed his early education at Santragachi Kedarnath Institution, Howrah under West Bengal State Board. He graduated from the Narasinha Dutt Co ...

) as their man-servant and entertainer. Begum Jaan is not concerned about

Hindustan ''Hindūstān'' ( , from '' Hindū'' and ''-stān''), also sometimes spelt as Hindōstān ( ''Indo-land''), along with its shortened form ''Hind'' (), is the Persian-language name for the Indian subcontinent that later became commonly used by ...

or Pakistan, her only concern is her business, which is running badly because of the partition and resulting riots. The local master and Congress worker (

) visits the brothel time to time with gifts for everyone. Meanwhile, the political sky is darkening. The

Radcliffe line The Radcliffe Line was the boundary demarcated between the Indian and Pakistani portions of the Punjab Province and Bengal Presidency of British India. It was named after Cyril Radcliffe, who, as the joint chairman of the two boundary commiss ...

passes between Debiganj and Haldibari, the former being placed in

, and the latter remaining in India. Mr. Profullo Sen (

) from Congress and Mr. Ilias (Kaushik Sen) from Muslim League (who were childhood friends but now separated) meet and discuss about the relocation of the people of the two districts. They discover that in its course, the boundary line has been drawn right through the middle of Begum Jaan's brothel. They meet Begum Jaan and tell her to evacuate her brothel along with her women, who refuses to budge. Meanwhile, the Nawab of Rangpur (

Rajatava Dutta Rajatava Dutta (Bengali: রজতাভ দত্ত; born 11 August 1967) is an Indian actor who appears in Bengali, Hindi and English films. He is often regarded as one of the most celebrated and respected Bengali actors of his generation. O ...

) was relocating with his family and followers to

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...

, where he stayed at the brothel for a night. Begum Jaan complained to him about Mr. Sen and Mr. Ilias, to get them out of their respective parties. After visiting

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

for the meeting of the rulers of the

Princely State A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

s, he informed Begum that he is not an influential person anymore, and the Princely States were being integrated in the Indian Union, and the titles were being abolished. Begum decided to fight her own battle. Exasperated at the futile attempts to evict Begum and her women from the house, Prafulla and Ilias turn to Kabir (

), leader of a criminal gang, for help. Kabir and his gang commits all kinds of heinous crimes in these turbulent times of riots and violence. They chase Sujan and three other girls who were returning from the market. While Sujan manages to save the girls and help them escape, he himself gets butchered by Kabir. Sujan's death adds fuel to the fire in Begum's heart and they decide to have a final confrontation. Meanwhile, after being rejected by Begum Jaan, Master manages to trap a girl ( Parno Mittra) into his schemes of getting back at Begum. He joins forces with Kabir and Prafulla. Ilias was dissatisfied with Kabir's ways but accepted the events as necessary for getting the job done. That night, Kabir and his gang set fire to the brothel. The women, trained to use rifles by Saleem, put up a brave fight. Most of them get killed, however Saleem himself dies the most horrifying death. After the bloodbath, the remaining women including Begum enter the inferno of the house and willingly accept their death in their own "country", while being narrated the story of the legendary

Rani Padmini Padmini, also known as Padmavati, was a 13th–14th century Rani (queen) of the Mewar kingdom of present-day India. Several medieval texts mention her, although these versions are disparate and many modern historians question the extent of ove ...

Rajputana Rājputana, meaning "Land of the Rajputs", was a region in the Indian subcontinent that included mainly the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan, as well as parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and some adjoining areas of Sindh in modern-day ...

. When dawn breaks, the house and its inmates have been burnt to dust. The film ends with Ilias, Prafulla, Master and lakhs of refugees from Debiganj and Haldibari coming together to see the remains of Begum Jaan's brothel, as '' Bharata Bhagya Bidhata'' plays in the background.

Cast

as Begum Jaan * Lily Chakravarty as Kamala aka Thamma *

Sudipta Chakraborty Sudipta Chakraborty is an Indian actor who mostly works in Bengali cinema. She won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film '' Bariwali''. She completed her school leaving examination from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Fort Wil ...

as Juthika aka Juhi *

as Rubina * Saayoni Ghosh as Koli *

Sohini Sarkar Sohini Sarkar is an Indian Bengali film and television actress. She played the title character in the 2011–2012 TV series '' Adwitiya''. Sarkar made her film debut in the 2013 film '' Rupkatha Noy''. In the same year she acted in the film '' ...

as Duli * Parno Mittra as Golaap *

Priyanka Sarkar Priyanka Sarkar is an Indian film and television actress who mosty works in Bengali films. Her first successful film was '' Chirodini Tumi Je Amar'' (2008) directed by Raj Chakraborty. She was married to actor Rahul Banerjee. Filmography Te ...

as Lata aka Bostumi * Ridhima Ghosh as Fatima/Shabnam *

Ena Saha Ena Saha (born 28 May 1996), is an Indian film and television actress who predominantly appears in Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an e ...

as Banno * Ditipriya Roy as Nolok aka Bunchki *

as Mr. Profullo Mohan Sen *

as Mr. Muhammad Ilias * Nigel Akkara as Saleem Mirza *

as Kabir (special appearance) *

as Master *

as Sujan * Biswajit Chakraborty as Mr. Akhtar, Inspector-in-charge of Debiganj *

Kanchan Mullick Kanchan Mullick is an Indian Bengali film and television actor and politician. In addition to the television show ''Janata Express'', Kanchan has also acted in movies like '' Mahakaal'' and ''Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona''. He is also a Bengali theat ...

as Mr. Shashikanta, Inspector-in-charge of Haldibari *

Nawab Nawab (Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب; bn, নবাব/নওয়াব; hi, नवाब; Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ; Persian, Punjabi , Sindhi, Urdu: ), also spelled Nawaab, Navaab, Navab, Nowab, Nabob, Nawaabshah, Nawabshah or Nobab, ...

of Rangpur (special appearance) * Ashok Dhanuka as Sardar

Vallabhbhai Patel Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar, was an Indian lawyer, influential political leader, barrister and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of ...

Sanjay Gurbaxani Sanjay, also spelled Sanjai, Sanjey, Sanje, Sanjaey and Sunjay, is a male given name of Sanskrit origin meaning "triumphant" (from Sañjaya) and may refer to: People * Sanjaya, an important character in the ancient Indian epic ''Mahabharata'' * Sa ...

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

Dicky Banerjee Dicky, Dickey, Dickie, or plurals thereof may refer to: Clothing: * Dickey (garment), a type of false shirt-front * Dickies, a brand of clothing People: * Dicky (name), a list of persons with the given name or nickname * Dickey (name), a list of ...

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...

Patrick Eyre Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name *Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...

Louis Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of German ...

* Steve Burroughs as Hastings Ismay *

Raja Biswas ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being atte ...

Cyril Radcliffe Cyril John Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe, (30 March 1899 – 1 April 1977) was a British lawyer and Law Lord best known for his role in the Partition of India. He served as the first chancellor of the University of Warwick from its foundati ...

Shataf Figar Shataf Figar is an Indian actor. He acted in movies like Shershaah, 89, Kolkata Calling, Dark Chocolate and Chorabali, Khoj and Cockpit, ''Made in China'' (2019) and ''Extraction'' (2020). In 2022, he appeared in the film ''Raavan''. ...

as lawyer of Pakistan *

Srijit Mukherjee Srijit Mukherji is an excellent national award winning Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Bengali cinema. His regular collaboration with veteran actor Prosenjit Chatterjee brought him into the limelight. His first ...

as lawyer of India

Reception

The film received critical acclaim on its release, despite a few reviewers pointing out cinematic flaws. Upam Buzarbaruah, reviewing for the ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' commented that "...Rajkahini's flaws don't take away from the beauty of the concept or its execution". Shomini Sen of IBNLive concluded that "Despite its glaring flaws and over stretched climax it 'Rajkahini''makes for a compelling watch". The film also got a fantastic reception in the Film Festival circuit. It was the official selection at the International Film Festival of India at Goa in the Indian panorama section, Mumbai International Film Festival (MAMI), Imagine India Film Festival at Madrid, Hidden Gems Film Festival in Calgary, Sydney Indian Film Festival, Chennai International Film Festival, All Lights International Film Festival at Kochi, I-Views International Film Festival at Delhi, International Film Festival of Trichur, Habitat International Film Festival at Delhi and competitive sections at the New York Indian Film Festival, International Film Festival of Kerala, Delhi International Film Festival and Melbourne Indian Film Festival. Rituparna Sengupta won the Best Actress for her performance at the Delhi International Film Festival along nominations at New York Indian Film Festival and Melbourne Indian Film Festival.

Remake

A Hindi adaptation, '' Begum Jaan'', made by Mukherji and starring

Vidya Balan Vidya Balan (pronounced ; born 1 January 1979) is an Indian actress. Known for pioneering a change in the portrayal of women in Hindi cinema with her roles in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including a National F ...

with an ensemble cast, released in April 2017.

Soundtrack

References

External links

* {{Srijit Mukherji Bengali-language Indian films 2010s Bengali-language films Films set in West Bengal Films about prostitution in India Films scored by Indradeep Dasgupta Films scored by Rabindranath Tagore Bengali films remade in other languages Films set in the partition of India Films directed by Srijit Mukherji Cultural depictions of Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural depictions of Vallabhbhai Patel Cultural depictions of Muhammad Ali Jinnah Cultural depictions of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma