The Pride of Bengal; Beware of the Tiger of Bengal! I request all your attention on this review of Tollywood’s “Bagha Jatin” which stars Bengal’s superstar Dev Adhikari in the titular role of Bagha Jatin a.k.a. Indian independence activist Jatindranath Mukherjee.

Bagha Jatin (2023): Starring the sensation of Bengali cinema, Dev Adhikari as Indian independence activist Jatindranath Mukherjee a.k.a Bagha Jatin

Bagha Jatin (2023): Starring Dev Adhikari!

Bagha Jatin was released in its Hindi-dubbed version too. The film is written by Sounava Bose, directed by Arun Roy, and produced by its lead actor Dev Adhikari himself.

Check out Bengali superstar Dev Adhikari’s amazing transformation for Bagha Jatin

This is a biographical drama on the life and contributions of Indian revolutionary Jatindranath Mukherjee who was addressed as “Bagha Jatin” meaning “Tiger Jatin” as he had fought with a large size Bengal tiger with his bare hands and had killed it with a strike of his dagger on its neck. Jatindranath Mukherjee and his group bravely fought against the British Empire. Jatindranath was killed during an open gunfight with the British at Balasore in the Indian state of Orissa. To experience this amazing action-laden biographical drama of the Tiger of Bengal, you surely need to visit your local theaters!

Bagha Jatin Official Trailer (Bengali):

Bagha Jatin Official Trailer (Hindi):

The Good:

Dev Adhikari as Bagha Jatin in a still from the movie

Bagha Jatin died at the young age of 35 but his legacy will survive for hundreds of years. His legacy states, “Amra Morbo, Jagat Jagbe” which is translated as “We shall die to awaken the nation”. I have to say, Bengali actor Dev Adhikari has completely merged into the character of the lionheart Indian revolutionary in this movie. In certain instances, Dev seemed unrecognizable and appeared to be Bagha Jatin himself. In short, his performance deserves applause.

Dev’s outstanding performance was supported by a magnificent cast which included actresses Sreeja Dutta who played Bagha Jatin’s wife and Sudipta Chakraborty who played his elder sister. Foreign actor Carl Harte as Irish-British officer Charles Tegart appeared cruel and ruthless enough to make your blood boil.

Jatindranath Mukherjee (Dev Adhikari) with his group of revolutionaries in a scene from Bagha Jatin

The movie shows several other famous Indian revolutionaries like Khudiram Bose (Samiul Alam), Manoranjan Sengupta (Shoaib Kabeer), Aurobindo Ghose (Sajal Mondal), Ullaskar Dutta (Kallol De), Hemchandra Kanungo (Sumanta Roy), Chittapriya Ray Chaudhuri (Rohaan Bhattacharjee), Manabendra Nath Roy (Bhaskar Mukherjee), Rash Behari Bose (Kolaj Sengupta), Charu Chandra Bose (Ujjwal Ghosh), and Kartar Singh Sarabha (Gurshaan Singh Kohli). The actors who played these characters were not seasoned actors but still, their performances were far above average.

The sets and the action choreography of Bagha Jatin are exceptional. You will experience a real-time historical drama coming to life when you watch this movie at theaters. The action scenes have been choreographed wisely to mimic the wartime era of the early 1900s. The screenplay is intriguing and the film’s master editing makes it even more engaging. The movie runs for 2 hours and 10 minutes and the scenes have been edited quite precisely to omit any loose moments.

Dev Adhikari with co-star Sreeja Dutta who played Bagha Jatin’s wife

The dialogues have been performed efficiently to awaken your emotions. The movie has several heart-wrenching scenes which showcase the Battle of Buribalam. The battle scenes were shot in the dense forests of Orissa. Also, several intense scenes like the imprisonment and torture of revolutionaries in Kolkata’s Alipore Jail have been shown. Bagha Jatin’s succumbing to his gunshot wound will make you even more emotional, and you too would feel like stepping into a war with the cruel Britishers if you happen to be a true Indian. Storywise, this emotion-laden historical action-drama is top-notch. The movie is filled with great songs too.

The Bad:

The tiger fight scene in Bagha Jatin

Although the overall cinematography of Bagha Jatin has a realistic retro essence of the British period in India, some parts of its cinematography are lagging behind. The tiger fight scene looked completely unreal due to poor-quality VFX.

I will talk about one of Dev Adhikari’s previous movies titled “Chander Pahar” translated as “Moon’s Mountain”. It was a fascinating adventure-drama but when the climax scene happened and the monster in the movie was shown confronting Dev, believe me, the visuals were so bad that we were almost banging our heads on the wall! The filmmakers had just turned a could-have-been masterpiece into a disaster because of their low-grade VFX. So mind it, cinematography is a major essence of any film which does need to be taken care of.

The Verdict:

Original image of Jatindranath Mukherjee a.k.a Bagha Jatin, the Tiger of Bengal

In spite of the loopholes in its cinematography, Bagha Jatin is worth watching. If you prefer to watch period action dramas then Bagha Jatin is one such movie that will keep you engrossed throughout its run duration. The film was originally released on October 19, 2023, in Bengali and its Hindi-dubbed version debuted the very next day on the big screens.

Producer and actor Dev Adhikari is the “Akshay Kumar” of Bengali cinema. He has the charm, charisma, and personality that have made him one of the top-grossing actors in Bengali cinema after the legendary Uttam Kumar. He has brilliantly transitioned from his action-lover boy image to a historical character.