Shriman Prithviraj is a 1973 Bengali cinema starring Ayan Banerjee and Mahua Roy Choudhury directed by Tarun Majumdar

Tarun Majumdar

Tarun Majumdar is a renowned Bengali Indian film director who makes films in Bengali and is notable for his depiction of Bengali culture and society. Many of his films are literature-based...

.It is one of the sweetest Bengali films with a down to earth feel ever made on the subject of teenage love. The film continues to have a cult following.

Plot

Sriman Prithviraj proved it yet again. Ayan Banerjee and Mohua Roy Chowdhury as the child-couple are still remembered lovingly. Such a simple story of love is entertaining as well as inspiring. Moreover, the blend of the pre-Independence political backdrop with the simple love life of the newlywed is excellently portrayed. On one hand you have the caricature of a typical Babu, who’s hell-bent on getting the ‘Raibahadur’ title from the British rulers played excellently by non other than Utpal Dutt, and on the other hand you have Biswajit, a Swadeshi who’s out to teach the British rulers a lesson. But still the main focus remains on Ayan, a notorious boy. To curb him, his parents get him married to Utpal Dutt’s daughter, Mohua. But he creates havoc in his in-laws’ house as well. The brilliant interplay between the two, their becoming friends, missing each other, understanding responsibilities towards each other all make for a charming love story. And at the end of it all, it’s pure fun.

This is essentially a comedy with Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer

Thomas "Tom" Sawyer is the title character of the Mark Twain novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . He appears in three other novels by Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Tom Sawyer Abroad , and Tom Sawyer, Detective .Sawyer also appears in at least three unfinished Twain works, Huck and Tom...

esque leanings laced elegantly into the ever-transforming fabric of Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

 of the late 19th or early 20th century. In the subtle backdrop of the Indian freedom movement, it is the story of the transformation of a young boy's innocent but naughty childhood to an appreciation of the Swadeshi movement

Swadeshi movement

The Swadeshi movement, part of the Indian independence movement, was an economic strategy aimed at removing the British Empire from power and improving economic conditions in India by following the principles of swadeshi , which had some success...

 and the growth of adolescent love for a girl even younger than he was. The comedy is exceedingly natural and free-flowing. It includes a number of beautifully rendered traditional Bengali

Bengali people

The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...

 songs and is punctuated by a series of stand-offs faced by the young boy, mostly with unfavourable results for the opposing party. At heart, it is a beautiful pre-pubescent/adolescent love story. It was a huge box-office success when it came out and is an oft-watched movie even today.

Cast

• Ayan Bandyopadhyay
• Mahua Raychowdhury
• Sandhya Roy
  Sandhya Roy
  Sandhya Roy is an actress in the Bengali language film industry of West Bengal India. She is one of most famous actress in romantic bengali movies for her greatest skill in acting and very sweet face from 1960 to 1985.Being a versatile actress,she has experimented with successful character-acting...
  
  
• Indranath Chattopadhyay
• Satyajit Bose
• Utpal Dutt
  Utpal Dutt
  Utpal Dutt was an Indian actor, director, and writer-playwright. He was primarily an actor in Bengali Theatre, where he became a pioneering figure in Modern Indian theatre, when he founded the 'Little Theater Group' in 1947, which enacted many English, Shakespearean and Brecht plays, in a period...
  
  
• Satya Bandyopadhyay
• Robi Ghosh
• Chinmoy Ray
  Chinmoy Ray
  Chinmoy Ray/Roy is a Bengali Indian male comedian actor.He is famous for his comic roles in Bengali movie, though his versatile acting talent has stunned viewers and critics alike in various kind of roles....
  
  
• Santosh Dutta
  Santosh Dutta
  Santosh Dutta was a Bengali character actor, best known for immortalizing the character of Jatayu in Satyajit Ray's Feluda movies viz. Sonar Kella and Joi Baba Felunath. A lawyer by profession, Santosh Dutta will be remembered as one of the greatest comedians Bengali Films ever had. Essentially a...
  
  
• Padma Debi
• Nibhanani Debi
• Haridhan Mukhopadhyay
• Gita Nag
• Tapen Chattopadhyay