The Lure of Infidelity. Review on Dosar: The Companion Movie

'Dosar' (subtitled 'The Companion' in English) is the latest film from director Rituparno Ghosh. This time he dwells on infidelity and its aftermath. The film is smart, enticing, and evocative of the era of black-and-white films. The director has defended his choice of making the film in black-and-white saying the subject and the treatment didn't demand the use of colour; I fully endorse his views. The excellent cinematography makes full use of the interplay of light and shade and a certain amount of mystique gets woven in the process. The story begins with a car accident that kills the woman seated next to the man who had been driving, however the man survives with heavy injuries. Soon it is revealed that the man has to live with much more than his share of physical injuries. He had been cheating his wife all the while by having an extra-marital affair with the deceased woman and the ugliness that the revelation brings in its wake is what the film is all about from then onwards. There are characters galore: the betrayed wife, the agonised husband of the deceased woman and their young son, the relatives, friends and other acquaintances, and even a young couple who have their romp at the very resort and the very bedroom where the protagonist and his lover had stayed before they tragically parted. Prosenjeet Chatterjee as the protagonist and Konkona SenSharma as his wife have given brilliant performances. Mention must be made of Chandreyi Ghosh who is perfect (she gives a superb rendition of a Rabindrasangeet as the film opens) in the brief cameo. Others in the cast include Shankar Chakraborty, Pallabi Chatterjee, Shuchita Roy Chowdhury, Parambrata Chatterjee, Moumita Gupta, Biswajit Chakraborty, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Sumanta Mukherjee and Parambrata Chatterjee. Pallabi Chatterjee plays the friend of Konkona who herself is torn between her much young lover, played by Parambrata, and the compulsion of domestic stability with her husband. The parallels of infidelity raise important questions and are effectively intertwined. Rituparno's penchant with focusing on the crosscurrents in conjugal relationships (or, for that matter, any relationship) asserts itself once again. The director is able to craft finer moments of tension, agony, helplessness, bitterness and passion in a sensitive and intelligent manner. He is a master storyteller and has a unique ability to make the viewers gaze through fractured segments. This time he has also experimented with the music, using it sparingly. The haunting background score is provided by a group named 21 Grams. The film is produced by Arindam Chowdhury (Planman Motion Pictures) who had also backed the Anjan Das film 'Faltu' released early this year.