Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee’s recent Bengali Film Praktan
(Former) was creating interest from the moment I had heard of it. The reason
was not that I like Prasenjit and Rituparna as couple (I never liked) and they were appearing together on silver screen as a pair after long fourteen years.
But, actually for, I personally like the unique ideas and their visualizations (portraiture or
way of story-telling) by the pair of Nandita and Shiboprosad. Still I remember
their Icche (2011), Aleek Sukh (2013), Ramdhanu (2014), Belaseshe
(2015) and how they have built up a positive expression and expectation from the duo. And the expectation is met in this 143 minutes film.
Story : I am not going to mess up your interest telling
the story (you may have a look at the trailer.)
Still I have something to say about it. What I like about the story is its
thematic simplicity. We are well aware of the problems dealt in the film. Despite
that it is likable in the sense that it showcases some complex fringes of
relationship and how one can manage it or not. As the movie moves forward (in parallel
to the train journey from Mumbai to Howrah) it comes up with psychological ups
and downs, ego clashes, identity crises, nostalgia and some wonderful moments
of happiness as well as grief.
We come out of the AC cinema hall thinking about how I
am dealing with my relationships, is there any jealousy in the mask of ‘Love’,
is there the balance on the both side or are we following the same what we are boasting
of, namely perfect relationship, giving examples from literature?
I found a painful waiting. A relationship has two faces with
a connection in between. I find one face to wait for a response from the other but
fails. She is trying to rebuild (Sudipa, role played by Rituparna, is an architect) the crashed, smashed
bonding without any positive stimulus from the other side. The connection is broken.
Relationship is mutual. One part of it is trying heart and
soul to keep it intact but the other is just careless, how can you expect a longer
and stronger relationship? Sudipa tried, she failed; Malini (role played by Aparajita) never tried but she
won. This is the strangest thing about relationship.
Another interesting thing about the story telling is that it
compares and contrasts the present and past in parallel to the parallel tracks
of the train. Life is of course a journey. The sun sets and again rises the
next day : the train goes to and forth from Mumbai to Howrah and Howrah to
Mumbai and so on.
Acting : Once
again Aparajita Adhya proved that she is more than a brilliant actress. She is
bright among all the others present in the film. Even Rituparna and Prasenjit seem
to be fade in comparison to her. Hers is a round character, as I have found it. In
the beginning we find her most talkative, nonsense and cheap. Actually we are
motivated by Sudipa to think about her like this in the beginning. Later on,
she turns out to be different. Her own philosophy of life shakes us to the
core. (I was also shivering then as I was just under an AC.)
Rituparna is also very good in her character portrayal.
Elegant. We like her and feel for Sudipa. But Prasenjit is just Prasenjit in the
film. I don’t know why I feel that he hasn’t given his best in this film as much
as we have found him in Srijit Mukherjee’s Baishe Srabon (2011) or in
Goutam Ghosh film Moner Manush (2010).
I must mention Biswanath Basu and Manali Dey. They are just
awesome in their characters. I laughed aloud with and at them. Lovable. They are
comic but convey some serious matters wrapped in laughter. For example: truth
and dare are like some of those elements that make up a relationship and make it
stronger.
I was waiting for Soumitra and Savitri to appear in the
plot. The serene beauty of their understanding and mutual trust make them
adorable in the film. One of the most enjoyable scenes is by Savitri while she
speaks Hindi deliberately.
The gift we get from the film is the recitation of Rabindrabath Tagore's poem "Hothat Dekha" (The Sudden Meeting) by Soumitra himself. The perfect synchronization of the scenes along with his voice is enough to give goosebumps. The whole film is inspired by the poem and it justifies.
I guess this film uses Anindya, Anupam, Surajit and Upal as
actors together for the first time. The directors need them for introducing
some musical moments in the film and to bring variety so that we do not get
bored in the long train journey.
But I’m a bit confused about the factual truth of the scene
where Surajit and Upal speak about the problem of Bhoomi band !
Costume: I am not that fashion conscious but while
watching the film some specialties have drawn my eyes.
Ujaan’s (role played by Prasenjit) costume. I like his T's with famous Bengali lines
from Bengali poems. For example “Abani, Bari Acho?” or “Jete Pari Kintu Keno
Jaabo?” How amazing it is having those quotes on your T's. I don’t know if it is
intentionally done: I find some connections between the T's and the scenes in
which Ujaan is wearing those.
I liked the blue sari of Sudipa, also, by the way.
Cinematography: The most beautiful thing to feed your
eyes with some eye-catching cinematography. The film really pleases us in this
case. I was thinking to write about it at the very beginning, but I controlled.
The bird-eye view of the train with rising sun, Howrah Bridge with sunset and
the boats on the river Hoogly, Mandarmani in the evening, flying over Victoria
Memorial (and a long list to add) are simply awe-inspiring. We rethink about
Kolkata and its beauty. You just need to have keen eyes to find those beauties
in the ‘known’ city.
What I didn’t Like: I have mentioned before I didn’t
find Prasenjit that good in this film in comparison to others.
Another thing is the length of the movie. Long 143 minutes !
Even for a moment I felt a bit boring with same continuous flat scene. Especially
I can recall just now of the Antakshari Game scene. Well, everybody had
to take part but it was lagging behind the pace of the movie, I felt. But I
liked some songs to hum with them.
I cannot understand the significance of shaking the camera
too much in the scene where Sudipa have a lunch on the first visit to Ujaan’s
home.
Some songs I found beautiful (I will love to download and listen
to them again) and some are just meaningless !
However, to conclude, I will argue if to compromise or
sacrifice is the only way to pour oxygen into a relationship while in actuality that paticular one is one-sided. If you have a responsive partner (in any kind of
relationship), you are lucky. But I love Malini when she says that one has to
accept the whole person with his good and bad stuffs as well as past and
present to build up a healthy relationship for future. Malini is a successful
example in this case.
