In the twilight between realism and dream. Review on Kaalpurush Movie

KAALPURUSH- Memories in the mist.

DISCLAIMER-

-I’m not Bengali although I am Indian.

-Except for a few Satyajit Ray films and some charming Bengali movies I’ve watched on Doordarshan as a kid, I haven’t watched a lot of Bengali cinema.

Had to start my review with that coz I know Bengalis are passionately proud of their culture, including cinema, and rightly so .I am reviewing this film purely based on a movie addict’s perspective, someone who loves cinema, but may not always understand all of what is being conveyed. Kaalpurush-Memories of the Mist, premiered recently in the Toronto Film Festival, which is where I watched it. The director and some of the actors were present for the screening, and answered questions put forth by the audience after the film ended.

CAST:

Sumanta: Rahul Bose

Supriya: Sameera Reddy

Father: Mithun Chakravarthy

Mother: Laboni Sarkar

I’d like to describe the plot in terms of the central characters.

SUMANTA: Sumanta is a man in his mid 30’s, lives in Calcutta, comes from a middle class family, is working a 9-5, dead end, “babu”job, is married to Supriya, and has two adorable 7 year old children. Right from the first scene, he comes across as a man who is vastly “troubled”. The obvious troubles we see are in the form of his job situation…where he’s seen as a man without a lot of charm or “getting along” skills, keeps messing up his chances of a promotion, even though he is desperately waiting for one. The other area of his life that is troubled is his marriage. His wife is obviously disinterested in him, they both sleep in different rooms. She is critical of his lack of material success and keeps calling him a failure, and she’s having an affair with someone else, a fact that he’s aware of, but never confronts her with. Despite all this, what bothers Sumanta the most, which we come to know gradually through the movie, is his unresolved relationship with his father, who is now dead and has been for the past 20 years or so. He avoids facing this issue, as he does all else, and drifts along aimlessly in life. The only source of comfort he has are his children, with whom he has a strong relationship.

SUPRIYA: Supriya is a school teacher, probably born and raised in a small city in West Bengal. The first glimpse we have of Supriya, we see her lying on her side, with her back to her husband and children, feigning sleep, ignoring them. We see Supriya’s character largely through her husband, Sumanta’s eyes. She yearns to get out of her middle class life, see more of the world. The first time her eyes light up and she looks happy is when her brother calls her from the US and tells her that he’s sending her a ticket for her to visit him in New York for a couple of months. Supriya is completely excited and wants to prepare for her journey reading up as much as she can about America, gets a ton of books in Bengali about America, even quizzing her class of clueless kids at school about America. Ignoring her own anxious children, she wildly promises to bring them gifts from America and flies away.

FATHER- We make our acquaintance with the father in the first scene itself, where he is anxiously watching over his son, Sumanta, wondering if he is happy. Although he’s been dead for 20 years, his spirit lingers on as he obviously has a lot he needs to communicate to his wife and son. Is he able to reach out to them?

The crux of the movie is whether each of these diverse, yet interconnected characters, get their resolution. Be it in the real world or the spiritual, each one of them is tormented…are they able to find peace?

REVIEW-

I expected the movie to be a lot more abstract than it was. The only abstract elements are these bards/ musicians, and a drama troupe, that keep showing up intermittently throughout the movie…irrespective of what time period is depicted on screen.

The movie does move at a slow pace, but the characters are so beautifully etched that you don’t really feel the absence of “events” happening on screen. The scenes between Mithun and his wife, between Mithun and his son, between Sumanta and his children, are achingly poignant. Supriya’s character and her obsession with America and its way of life add an ironic, light touch to the movie.

The acting performances are uneven. Mithun Chakravarthy is a revelation, at least for me since I haven’t seen him so effective on screen since his debut in Mrigaya. Even though he is a shadowy figure in the movie, its HIS pain and his regrets that most touch the viewer. Sameera Reddy is excellent in her role as Supriya. Hers was perhaps the easiest role to play…she is quite unilateral in her harshness and her self centered-ness.

The only problem I had in the acting department was with Rahul Bose…and he is the central character of the movie. There was something calculated about his performance, which had me turning to watch whoever else was on screen with him, rather than watch him. He once admitted in an interview that he is not a great actor and can only play himself. I think he was partly right in his assessment. He was able to shed his urban image for this movie, but unable to get the complex emotional nuances right. That’s only my opinion. Buddadeb Dasgupta, the director, doesn’t agree and has signed on Rahul Bose for his next movie!

To end my review, I have to share this amusing anecdote that is related to the “not so abstract” nature of this film. In the Q&A session, after the film ended, one “phirang” gentleman very earnestly asked the director, “You have a lot of black crows flying over the city of Calcutta throughout the film, making a lot of sound. What kind of ominous/symbolic significance did they have”? Buddhadeb Dasgupta replied, “Actually, in my country there are always a lot of crows in the sky, and usually crows make a lot of noise….they are only there in the movie for the sake of authenticity, no other significance”!