36 CHOWRINGHEE LANE....A film by Aparna Sen

Never before had Indian cinema witnessed a film so soulful & poignant based on an Anglo Indian protagonist.Yes,references were there in the past,but those were merely to fill the absence of British actors.Aparna Sen,daughter of veteran film maker & critic Chidananda Dasgupta,made her debut into bengali films through Satyajit Ray's Teen Kanya (Samapti) & went on to become one of the finest actors of indian cinema.In the year 1981 she made her foray into film direction with 36 chowringee lane.Based on her self written story & screenplay,36 chowringee lane is about a middle aged Anglo Indian school teacher &.....just about her..& it is here,in this very aspect where the film touches the core of your heart.Sen did not attempt to make a film on the problems faced by Anglo indians in post independent India,nor did she tried to make a docu drama/thesis on the community,which is evident from the first frame itself.Sen had sketched out the content,plots & the characters of the film based entirley on her own imagination & these small small fragments of incidents encircle around the life of Violet Stoneham (Jennifer Kapoor).

Violet is a middle aged Anglo indian lady teaching Shakespeare to a bunch of disinterested girls in a local convent school.She stays in a small flat with a cat as her sole friend.Letters & post cards coming from long distant relatives & friends & weekly visits to her brother Eddie staying in an old age home giving some solace to her otherwise uneventful life.A chance encounter with an ex student Nandita (Debashree Roy) & her boyfriend Samaresh ( Dhritiman Chatterjee) brings a fresh lease of life into her dull existence.

With the help of moving shots and camera work ( brilliant work by Ashok Mehta),Sen has marvelously captured the everyday existence of Violet.Even after living in a city for so long & loving it in her own way,she still is far from attached to it..from the people,from the crowd,from the culture.But there's not even a single instance where her loneliness has been exaggerated or 'created' to evoke sympathy from the viewers,so much so that there's not even a single scene where she is seen complaining of her loneliness.The sounds of the cramped lift,of the clackering dishes in the kitchen,radio transistors playing hindi songs in a nearby apartment,the fading evening dim lights enveloping the room,the flickering of the lamp,her frequent going into reverie while reading the letters,..her long,frequent close up shots...gives us a vivid image of loneliness that surrounds the life of this middle aged Anglo indian woman....But Sen shows her loneliness with dignity & diligently ensures perfect visual sense out of each and every scene..,and thats where the movie is a winner!

When Violet's life is going thru the same daily routine of going & coming back from school,teaching Shakespeare,climbing up the stairs,checking her letter box,feeding her cat,seeing old pictures,writing to her niece Rosemary,a quite meal by herself,visiting her brother Eddy (played by Jennifer's real life brother Geoffrey Kendal),...comes Samaresh and Nandita,the bengali couple who were looking for a perfect hideaway for their escapades at Violet's home in 36 Chowringee lane & Violet begins to enjoy the company of the two with usual outings to movie theatres,victoria memorial etc..

Also the dream sequence has been shot brilliantly (in a bergman style)

Jennifer Kendal Kapoor (late wife of Shashi kapoor) essaying  the role of Stoneham undoubtedly turns out to be one of the best to come across in Indian cinema.Being a veteran stage artist herself,her rendition of Sen's Stoneham filled with solitude,angst,frustration and misery deserves nothing less than a standing ovation!!

The film boasts of some marvellous scenes to cherish forever...
a)Violet's peeking into Samaresh's party thru the window pane where she realizes that every bonding,every human relationship is nothing but just a matter of 'give and take'..once the utility is over,a relation is also over...
b)Violet coming home early one windy afternoon,finding the door open and watching the couple kissing in front of her, reminding her of her own youth...

c) But the image that will always haunt me is that of Violet trailing along the streets by the sides of Victoria memorial,reciting Shakespeare all by herself  with a dog as a company,holding the tin box in her hands with a bewildered expression on her face!!The message is simple 'Life moves on'...

My final word of praise remains only for Aparna Sen,for executing and bringing into life the subject of loneliness with such brilliance that you wonder its her debut film as a director! She deserves all the laurels she garnered for this gem of a masterpiece!


P.S. : I hated the National Film awards jury that year for overlooking Jennifer's performance for 36 Chowringee Lane,and giving away the Best Actress award to Rekha for Umraao Jaan!!! 

SAAT KHOON MAAF - movie review

                                                                     
Your past legacy holds a lot in ur favour and when it comes to legacies like Makdee,Blue umbrella, Maqbool,Omkara,Kaminey and the recent Ishqiya,then definitely expectations are sky high...add to that a name like Vishal Bharadwaj,one of the most celebrated film makers in recent times,someone who's films are based on Shakespeare's classics (Maqbool,Omkara)...couple it up with a  classic short story by Ruskin Bond 'Sussana's seven husbands' and u cant expect anything less than a brilliant cinema.....And to achieve that brilliance,Vishal Bharadwaj tests our patience ths time with his Priyanka chopra,Naseeruddin shah,Irfan khan,John abrahm,Vivaan shah,Neil nitin mukesh starrer SAAT KHOON MAAF.....

Its a dark and daring film about a woman's journey from her 20's to her late 50's where she falls for the wrong man everytime she claims to be in love! and the problem with the film is as soon as one husband gets killed,she jumps to the next man and voila!she falls in love again! The original story by Ruskin bond is a thrilling black comedy which keeps the readers hooked up untill the end but the problem with Vishal's adaptation is that its becomes too predictable when the screenplay falls into a pre set pattern where u know whats gonna happen next....
So here,our very own desi Sussana falls for--


Husband no. 1: A handicapped Major Rodricks (Neil Nitin Mukesh) who's suspicious of her and impotent as well..
Wot to do?--feed him to a man eating panther


Husband no. 2:  A rockstar,drug addict Jimmy (John Abrahm) who sings stupid songs('meri billi boli meaaow'),sings mechanically on stage with his female fans throwing brassiere at him,roams around with his two bimbettes wearing their nighties and getting bubble bath and playing 'chor police' with them!!!
Wot to do?-- simple...syringe loaded with narcotics...push it thru his veins!


Husband no. 3: A sadist urdu poet who's a romantic during daytime and a beast at night
Wot to do?-- dig him alive in his own grave


Husband no. 4: A two timing Russian Spy
Wot to do?-- poisonous snakes anyone?


Husband no. 5: Keemat laal,a lust driven aged police officer
Wot to do?-- overdose of viagra!!


Husband no. 6: Modhusudon Tarafdar,an old fashioned natural pharmacist who marries her because he's bankrupt
Wot to do?-- shoot him!


Though each of the husbands are quickly introduced,his chink sooner revealed and his death neatly executed with the help of three loyal assistants,each subsequent plot hardly makes a lasting impression... 
Though the film boasts of some beautiful moments like sudden shift of a scene from a wedding to a funeral,loosely tethering the tale to reality-tv,radio & newspaper headlines revealing which year we are in,Neil Nitin mukesh caressing Priyanka with his amputated leg (chilling),opening of kashmir with the babri masjid incident being displayed on tv with the urdu shayaris in the background by Irfan Khan,Priyanka's declaring 'Now i m going to drink his blood' to Vivaan (one of the best scenes) but such moments are quite few and rare which is unlike any other Vishal Bharadwaj film
                                                                                                                           

Performance wise is undoubtedly one of the finest performances by Priyanka Chopra,she truely carries the entire film on her shoulders..She is a chameleon-- vulnerable and tearful in one moment and an unfeeling viper in the next!Anu kapoor as keemat laal does a great job bringing out a few laughter from the audience..Vivaan Shah is a genious (here's hoping to see this new found talent a lot more on screen)..Irfan khan and Naseeruddin shah are completely wasted and John Abrahm comes up with his worst acting ever and a role which instead of being funny seemed stupid and childish,to say the least!
The child actor who plays Vivaan's childhood part is gr8..Neil Nitin Mukesh is ok and one wonders why did Usha uthup agreed to do such an insignificant part!     


One of the brilliant aspect of the film is the execution of the 'Darling' song..the entire vintage look coupled with Priyanka Chopra's beauty makes the song an excellent watch..

         

TITLI - The First Monsoon Day

Way back in the early ninties,Rituparno Ghosh depicted the embittered relationship between a mother-daughter splendidly in his second film UNISHE APRIL,in 2002 he teamed up with the real life mother-daughter duo (Aparna Sen and Konkona Sen Sharma) and gave us a film with the same theme but in a different view altogether.

What really makes this film a million time watch (atleast for me) is the sheer innocence of the subject just as the title of the film itself..The innocence of a teenage girl,the first crush(for a bollywood matinee idol), the sensitivity of handling a relationship,the twist in the mother daughter relationship as well as the beauty of The first monsoon & the beauty of nature has been projected brilliantly by the director.
It essays the story of a teenage girl Titli (played by Konkona) who is infatuated (or as she says,in love) with a silver screen idol Rohit Roy (played by Mithun).Her bedroom is filled with his cutouts & posters & she is so obssessd with him that the idea of marrying him doesnt seem unusual to her at all,much to the surprise of her mother Urmila (played by Aparna Sen).But it is just not a film about an adolescent swooning over a film star.A chance,unexpected incident of meeting the film star while heading on her way to receive her father from the airport along with her mother & a twist in a personal relationship which brings her face to face with a harsh reality,transforms her into a girl-woman.

This is Rituparno's first outdoor film & hence nature plays a big catalyst with the going ons in the film..The dense morning fog,the lush green mountains of Darjeeling,the toy trains traversing its way through the zig zag paths,the first monsoon day (Asharasya prathama divasa),the Buddhist monastries,poetry & music churns out a world of innocence & romance blending together with the right essence.
Its hard to find another film which has presented a real life parent-child duo so brilliantly & effectively on celluloid (i dont find the same between Amitabh Bacchan & Abhishek!)..Their bonding,their interaction,their closeness,the talks..like their conversation at the dining table regarding Titli's wish to marry a film star,their conversation in the jeep while on their way to the airport (which starts from Titli asking her mother to keep her hair open instead of bunning it,to the choice of songs,Aparna capturing a nostalgic moment talking about her crush Rajesh Khanna coinciding with the song which Titli asks the driver to play,Aparna reminiscing an almost ghostly incident!, to Titli's concern for her grand daughter which might look like an ape!)...all such conversations had been dealt so effectively that i wonder wheather it was Rituparno's script or he simply asked the duo to talk on their own while he just captured their moments on camera!

As previously mentioned,the director has brilliantly used poetry & music to capture the innocence as well as the romance between the characters.Aparna quotes from the lines of Shakti  Chattopadhyay's famous poem Abani Baari Aacho?,quoting a line from Kalidas's Meghdootam,Aparna & Mithun wandering along the greenery amidst the fog & the former sings a Rabindra sangeet.But one of my best moment in the film is where Aparna recites an entire poem from Tagore's SANCHAITA......

Aamra dujon ekti gaaye thaki,

shei aamader ekti matro shukh.

taader gaache gaaye je doyel paakhi,

taahar gaane aamar naache buk.

taahar duti paalon kora bhera,

chore beraay moder botomule,

jodi bhaange aamar kheter bera,

koler pore niy taahare tule.

                        aamader ei graamer naam ti khonjona,

             aamader ei nodir naam ti anjona,

                          aamar naam to jaane gaayer paanch jone,

                         aamader shei taahar naam ti ronjona.......

The USP of  Rituparno's films are the small small intricate moments that he captures & Titli is filled with such beautiful moments that nowhere seems out of place or over the top...for example Titli hugging her mother tightly feeling her essence, telling her mother how beautiful she looks when she dresses up,..or the scene where Aparna's  reciting a poem for her husband (played by Dipankar) while the husband is already fast asleep,snoring at that!...she turns around,looks into a framed phorograph of her marital life and heaves out a sigh while at the same time the sweet & simple bonding she shares with the same person!

One more aspect of the film which i feel has been shown so wonderfully is the relationship between Aparna Sen & Mithun.It feels strange for anyone for sure,to come face to face with an ex-boyfriend after 17-18 yrs! But the maturity and the sensitivity with which Aparna handles the entire pace with Mithun with such dignity,grace and a poise,without any hard feelings,without any disappointments,feeling the same concern for him but not as a lover,but as a friend,as someone she had known many years ago.

Konkona epitomizes the word 'Titli' with her spunkiness  in the first half & with her silence in the latter part when she becomes aware of the hidden truth,slowly turning her from a moth to a butterfly! 

The Aparna Sen of Unishe april is poles apart from the Aparna Sen in Titli..While in Unishe april she was a proffesional Bharatnatyam dancer who's dedication to her art,her field, formed the basic core of her life besides anything else...in Titli,she plays a girl in love who had to silently bear the pain of marrying someone her parents had chosen,a dotted (pullover sewing) housewife,and a mother who's more a friend,a confidant to her daughter,someone who could relate to her child's pain with her own.

Nature has'nt been so effectively used in any other film (during the time when this film got released) and the final laudatory words must be in favour of the excellent cinematography by Abhik Mukherjee...

The Changing moods of Monsoon accentuates the Changing moods of Human minds!!!