Anjan Dutta, the director of ‘Chalo, Let’s Go’, insists that he likes working with actors and not stars. Because, as he believes, stars are difficult to handle. So, in ‘Chalo Let’s Go’, we have quite a handful, almost the whole jing-bang of the actor-clan— Parambrata, Rudranil, Ritwik, Saswata, Konineeca, Churni and Aparajita. And they are a treat to watch. The credit of throwing this aspect, mostly limited to weekly telefilms as yet, into the big-screen definitely goes to the maverick mindset of Anjan.
The junior Dutta, Neel, has been successfully running his band for quite some time now and he knows what it takes to make his music popular. If in Bong Connection it was a Tagore song tuned up to Rock music, here Rupam’s ‘Let’s Cross the Line’ sets the tone at the very beginning. And the music keeps pace all through.
Not the film, though. The second half loses balance as the script starts juggling with events and characters. The narrative decides to play musical chairs with three seats: the ‘then’, the ‘past’, and the ‘future’. And the quintessential Dutt formula—each character revealed at the end—not only burdens the director hell-bent on devising a ‘hatke narrative’ to make ‘Chalo…’ look different from his previous film (Bong Connection) of the same genre, but also keeps the viewer fidgeting for the witty moments that abound the first half.
And yet, with all that, it remains an Anjan Dutta film. He typifies his characters by their space of existence— the anglicised Bengali professor ready to criticise the Bengali mindset, or, for that matter, the NRB doctor who is easily carried away by everything he sees. However, these are the types that have already started looking repetitive.
Despite the grandiosity of the entire stretch of North Bengal from Dooars to Darjeeling and satisfactory camera work, big screen magic still eludes Anjan Dutta. The feel appears rooted more in the domesticity of a tv set than in the sprawl of the silver screen—almost certainly a hangover of Dutt’s telefilm experiences, which he needs to come out of if he decides to stick to the celluloid track more firmly.
Dutt wanted us to have few gags during the course of this film. He told us so at the beginning of the show. But this viewer had actually enjoyed his guffaws more in the ‘Bong Connection’ last year. At the risk of sounding cinematically challenged, I humbly submit that perhaps a simpler narrative towards the end would have better registered what he wanted to achieve through this film.
And then there I was, sitting on the chair waiting for my Letter of Intent (LOI). I just couldn’t make out that was I happy for getting through this interview or am I sad that I will miss the company of Sonali in NSN.I was watching the other candidates who were still giving their interview. I was watching and at the same moment it struck my mind why did I get through this interview? Before coming for the interview I had prayed to GOD that I don’t want to pray to get selected, I have got the chance of interview because YOU wanted, and if I am eligible and if you think that I should get then only I may be selected. And that was VERY TRUE……
Flashback:-I do have a habit of going through the pages of my old newspapers before shoving them aside to the corner of our long verandah where they stay before being sold away at a cheap and meager price of Rs.6/- per kilo by the paperwallah. The rate is generally fixed one and sometimes it does fluctuate and one may get a little bit of extra amount depending on the bargain which he can do with the person buying them…
Well, this blog is not about the paperwallah not about bargaining or not about the discount you may get from him, so don’t jump into a conclusion that this is a blog about saving techniques. If you are looking for that then I have to say only one thing-“sorry search somewhere else”. For the rest who are interested may continue to read along the blog where I had just described “How I have just bagged a new job with a highly renowned company.”
I am a fresher, and like others in the market do not have any job experience to boast about. Though I am already placed with TCS, they haven’t till date given me joining date. Hence my present status is neither Student nor Looking for a job; rather it can be better defined as waiting for the job (Grin).
It was 31st August, 2009. I was fed up with my spending time on the net hence was flipping through the pages of some back dated newspapers. As I had mentioned I have the habit of going through the paper before throwing them away. I remember Sonali had called me then. I was lying on the bed and was flipping through the pages of Ascent, a 4 page pullout given with The Times Of India every wednesday,dated 26th August, 2009 while talking over the phone. Suddenly my eye struck on the bottom of the front page. It was an advertisement about Nokia-Siemens Graduate Engineer Trainee Program 2009. It was asking for applications from graduate engineers in ECE, CSE and IT from Tier-I Engineering colleges to sit for the exam which was to be held on the 13th of September, 2009. I at once looked at the last date for application for the exam. To my astonishment I found out that they had asked to register for the exam before 1st September 2009.I at once logged on to the site and followed the instructions to fill up the form for the exam. My next duty was to inform my friends about this examination.
To be honest each and every one of us i.e. students, we do fill up forms for a number of exams with only thing on the wish list, to get selected in at least one of them. But do we really study that much to achieve that target? Pardon me if I am wrong but we do really don’t study to the extent that we should, rather we do complain of hard questions and that there wasn’t any time for us to prepare properly for the exam. Also we may complain of higher cutoff and negative marking (The above don’t apply to the students those who really study hard to achieve their targets). I also wasn’t serious about this exam as I do belong to the above category students and generally all the above conditions do apply to these types of national exams, though in this case negative markings weren’t there .That was a relief.
Whatever may be the case, everything went fine. Though many of my friends didn’t get the admit card for the exam, but it wasn’t a problem with me as I downloaded my admit card on time for the exam .The exam went by. I used the no negative marking scheme to randomly answer the technical part as I wasn’t thorough with that portion but managed to do quite a handful of the questions on the aptitude part. Rests were all answered randomly by me.
We knew from the advertisement from the paper that the date for calling us for the interview was 24th of September 2009. But neither me nor did any of my friends receive any information about the interview. We weren’t moved by this fact as we knew that it is tough to get through such competitive exam.
Everything was fine when suddenly on the 29th of September; I received a mail from Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). I was being called for the interview scheduled on the 4th of October. I was on cloud nine. Who wouldn’t be? After all being selected for the interview is a great achievement for a student like me. Though when I enquired from my other friends they said that they didn’t receive any such mail from NSN and they congratulated me for my success. But I only knew what kind of exam I did give. But at this juncture it hardly matters what kind of exam you gave as no one is going to look back.
I started my preparations for the exam and searched the net for types of question that were being asked to the selected people who are having their interviews being held at that moment from different parts of INDIA. To be honest this time I did study very hard.
On the D-day I reached there before time. After submitting the documents they had asked for I was led to another hall where I was told to wait for the interview. Many people were sitting there and waiting for the interview. Some were waiting there to get their first round interview result. But the thing that worried me was that many of the students were told to leave from the interview venue as they were not selected for the second round. Some were told to go back then, if required they would be called by the company later. T he rejection rate was very high.
I was sure that this is a very tough interview, tougher than the one I had at TCS. When my turn came, I was led into another hall where I faced a panel of three people, two men and a lady. The first question I faced was a general question “tell me about you”. The questions mostly asked were from HR and mid way through the interview I was sure that I am selected.
Short while later after my first interview, I was asked to face my second round of interview. And to my delight I found out that I am being asked the questions that I have already prepared for this interview. The person in the second interview panel was quite impressed with me answering all the questions. As an affirmative he said “Good” at the end of the interview.
And then there I was walking out of the Stadel in Salt Lake, with a very happy and light heart. I am selected in Nokia-Siemens Network (NSN) GET 2009. But was I really happy????? I don’t know…………………………………
It was the night of a chilly 19th February on the year 2008.I was sitting on a chair in the college hall.We just had our interviews over for the first ever on campus placement for our batch in our college.My head was hanging down in shame,crestfallen on the fact that I had the worst ever interview in my first appearance as interviewee in front of my interview panel of Tata Consultancy Services.All my friends were thinking about me and my interview and where it did go wrong for me.They were dejected for me more than they were excited for being able to give a great interview.They even went to the extent of asking our Training and Placement Officer(TPO) of is there anything that he could do in order to end my distress.Every thing they did was very encouraging but I just couldn't get any relief as I knew where I did that kind of a mistake during the interview session.
After all we were the second batch from our college who were having the campus placement and for the freshers like us,it was a golden opportunity to prove our mettle and bag our first job.Doesn't matter if it is not from our own stream but still we were at least eligible to sit for the exam.Yes there were people who were not been able to sit for the exam due to some required criteria but still those who were able to sit for the exam we were a very happy lot.
The day had started on a very energetic note.We were to report to our college as early as six in the morning.From our flat where we six people were staying ,three of us were sitting for the exam,me ,Kaushik and Nitesh.We woke up at around ten minutes to five.Thanks to my other flat mates Om and Abhishek who were awake the whole night and gave a call across the room on Kaushik's cell.My friends gave a smoothing touch with the razor to an already smooth cheeks.Looked as the skin would be peeling off by their razor.I didn't gave any finishing touch ,rather I was interested in wearing the new shirts and trousers that i had brought for this D-Day.Also I was very excited to admire ourselves in our new dresses.It seemed like a fancy dress party where everyone was wearing formals in a college that doesn't have a dress code.The most costly thing that I wore that day was a leather belt from Raymond's.We reached our college on time in two Rickshaw's.I was alone in one while Kaushik and Nitesh shared another one.I had a tough time with my necktie as I had left wearing my school tie well around three years before.But somehow it was done.Thanks to Nitesh.We reached there by 10 minutes to 6.We saw lots of other guys to be already there.
It was a very cold morning and our college ground was covered with a very light mist in that early morning.I went back towards the girls hostel to receive Sonali,and was accompanied by Writam who was there for Sudorsona.Gradually all the excitement to see ourselves in new dresses diminished as we saw the TCS people enter the college gate.We were then told to move into the college hall as the HR and other people of TCS readied for the presentation.We had heard rumors before hand that HR's likes students who are well mannered not only inside the interview room but also outside the room.Hence we were a very quite lot who entered and settled in the hall without making any noise.
The presentation started and we listened with great interest jotting down in between points that we thought to be very useful and those that may be asked during the interview.We were then divided into two groups.I was keeping my fingers crossed so that I and Sonali can be in the same group and can mutually help each other in the aptitude exam that we were told would be online.Luck favoring,we were both selected in the first group and both of us sat on adjacent PC's and helped each other through out the exam.At the end of the exam we were both happy to see "Congratulations.You have been selected for the second round".That was the first fulfillment of the hard work and effort that we both had put down for the aptitude exam.And for the price of non-enjoyment on the Valentine's Day that year.Of course each and every couple of our college wanted to be selected in the same company with a single reason,to be with their loved ones.We were then made to fill up Blue form,a mandatory form for TCS , after which we were told to wait for our interview round.
At around 12 noon I got my call for the interview from panel 5,a panel exclusively made for taking students after examining them through two rounds,first the Technical and then the HR.When I gave my interview everything was all right till I did the blunder.I told them that "I am curious and I have learned Windows Vista in seven days".I still don't remember why on earth I did say that.That question led them to a series of questions which were aptly answered by me as I guessed,but their faces suggested to me that they were not happy with the way I was answering.I tried hard to make them understand my answers but just couldn't.Rather their faces grew large.I was 100% sure that I had done a terrible mistake and there is nothing that can save me from getting rejected by this panel of members.That's it.They never called me for the HR round.I loitered around the room of panel 5 members the whole day but in vain.They never looked back to call me.I was heartbroken.........
S A M R A T G U P T A ...................................................................
All this while I was sitting down with my eyes towards the ground,making my self believe that I wasn't suitable for the job and making myself more determined for working towards the next campus placement by WIPRO that was being scheduled a few days later.Each and everyone of my group mates name has already been called out by the HR including Sonali among the selected students for TCS.Sitting beside her and knowing her for three years I could understand that she is more sad for me not getting selected than she is happy for her being among the selected ones...But......... What's This???
S A M R A T G U P T A....The voice again called out to which I could just manage to reply very feeebly "yy e ss sirr".Everything was silent around me then..all my group friends were sitting on the same row...They were roaring in joy................me..........................speechless.....and the girl beside me...............................crying to her hearts content.
All's well that ends well.I was the forty ninth student among the selected fifty one......Yes there were heartbreaks as well....My friend and Sonali's roommate Sudorsona was the first being called out among the selected.....But her boyfriend Writam,though he gave a good interview could not make it through to the top....and there were other heart breaks and joy with their equal share of griefs and ecstasy.
And here I am,writing to tell you the first ever joy of getting through an IT industry....and finishing my first blog on "Joy Of A First Job"
