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!!!