It being a Sunday afternoon, I was a little apprehensive about catching a matinee show of a Bengali film. After all, Royal Bengal Rahasya has done so incredibly well that it has been quite a hopeless series of attempts for me to catch the biggest hit (and its Bengali!) at the theaters so far in 2012. My apprehension met its successful end, though in a completely different direction. The theater was stark empty, with just a couple of heads bobbing up here and there, and much to my irritation, I reached a few minutes late to catch the show. Nothing spoils my day as much as catching a movie even a few minutes late. Watching a film has to be a complete experience in itself.The whole may be greater than the sum of parts, but each part may prove to be interesting, if not essential in some way. I don't generally hanker after a plot as much as I desire great moments. But why am I digressing so much? Because the film is so unoriginal, so lacking in any real cinematic quality, that even its greatest moment was rightly mocked by the loud laughter of the bored-to-tears gang of young men at the back of the theater.
There is no explicit reason given as to why the film is called "Aparijita Tumi". It may very well have been called "Probashi Bengalis blaming their disconnect with their roots for their relationship problems" As if things were really that simple. Another annoying, emerging trend is to have great, septagenarian actors playing themselves and acting quite uncharacteristically. Al Pacino did it to a hilarious effect in Jack and Jill and Soumitra Chatterjee is no better. Do you actually want me to believe that Soumitra Chatterjee would honestly go up to the hostess of a party and proposition her becoming an actress in that manner? The lines should have been different, the direction should have been different, and ultimately, that reaffirming from Chatterjee for Kamalinee's character was quite unnecessary.
Here is the story. Two NRB(non-residential bengali) couples are unhappy with each other. The man in one is happy with his job, jokes and alcohol while the other is unhappy with his nit-picking wife and has his job and his sexual drive to keep him going. The wife of the first has no children to occupy her(as if there is nothing else for women to do) while the other is busy with her children. So, bored house wife seduces sex-starved man. It is a most unbelievable sexual chemistry(if you can call it that) between Prosenjit and Kamalinee. There's no tension, no fear involved, no actual depiction of any emotion that might lead two married people to indulge in an extra-marital affair. Chandan Roy Sanyal's character has enough wisecracks to keep him going, but even his utter lack of any real emotion acts against the film. It seems all emotions are reserved for Padmapriya's character, who is the only NRB with an American accent who frequently breaks into American English while everyone else doesn't. She has an incredible amount of self-esteem and a sense of independence, unlike the other characters(including Sanyal) and yet we are expected to sympathise with her. Prosenjit is clearly the best actor of the lot, though the situation his character is in fails the actor that he is.
Director's trademarks used are of course interesting angles at certain points and the pleasant music. However, with such a drab storyline, visuals or mediocre quality music could not repair the damage done. Aparajita Tumi is worth every yawn and every empty seat.
I am personally fond of Aniruddha Roy Choudhury and adored Anuranan. This time around, he actually dared to go the extra mile and commit the extra-marital affair, but it was completely mishandled. I did not expect to see a Fatal Attraction, but Choudhury could easily have taken more inspiration from Brief Encounter. Or better yet, come up with an original storyline.
There is no explicit reason given as to why the film is called "Aparijita Tumi". It may very well have been called "Probashi Bengalis blaming their disconnect with their roots for their relationship problems" As if things were really that simple. Another annoying, emerging trend is to have great, septagenarian actors playing themselves and acting quite uncharacteristically. Al Pacino did it to a hilarious effect in Jack and Jill and Soumitra Chatterjee is no better. Do you actually want me to believe that Soumitra Chatterjee would honestly go up to the hostess of a party and proposition her becoming an actress in that manner? The lines should have been different, the direction should have been different, and ultimately, that reaffirming from Chatterjee for Kamalinee's character was quite unnecessary.
Here is the story. Two NRB(non-residential bengali) couples are unhappy with each other. The man in one is happy with his job, jokes and alcohol while the other is unhappy with his nit-picking wife and has his job and his sexual drive to keep him going. The wife of the first has no children to occupy her(as if there is nothing else for women to do) while the other is busy with her children. So, bored house wife seduces sex-starved man. It is a most unbelievable sexual chemistry(if you can call it that) between Prosenjit and Kamalinee. There's no tension, no fear involved, no actual depiction of any emotion that might lead two married people to indulge in an extra-marital affair. Chandan Roy Sanyal's character has enough wisecracks to keep him going, but even his utter lack of any real emotion acts against the film. It seems all emotions are reserved for Padmapriya's character, who is the only NRB with an American accent who frequently breaks into American English while everyone else doesn't. She has an incredible amount of self-esteem and a sense of independence, unlike the other characters(including Sanyal) and yet we are expected to sympathise with her. Prosenjit is clearly the best actor of the lot, though the situation his character is in fails the actor that he is.
Director's trademarks used are of course interesting angles at certain points and the pleasant music. However, with such a drab storyline, visuals or mediocre quality music could not repair the damage done. Aparajita Tumi is worth every yawn and every empty seat.
I am personally fond of Aniruddha Roy Choudhury and adored Anuranan. This time around, he actually dared to go the extra mile and commit the extra-marital affair, but it was completely mishandled. I did not expect to see a Fatal Attraction, but Choudhury could easily have taken more inspiration from Brief Encounter. Or better yet, come up with an original storyline.
No comments:
Post a Comment