I had to this. This one’s brilliance deserves to be told, talked about, and let people know the ethereal stuff being made in India.
Vidya is seven months pregnant, flies into Kolkata alone from London to look for her husband and is unsure if he exists or not. The infiniteness of the city becomes the primary hurdle for her. This hurdle gets gradually cemented with all very friendly and helpful people but nothing to offer as help.
All characters have faces that are “blink-and-you- miss” kinds, very real, very convincing and very plain jane. Even the contract killer has a face and mannerism that you see in hordes but wouldn’t remember, even if you forced yourself to. However, the movie has two central characters- Kolkata and the storyline.
Kolkata’s character is pivotal to the story. The director makes numerous references to the dialect there, Vidya is pronounced Bidya. The protagonist makes several attempts to correct the way people call her name. But, they are more-than-polite to tell “this is how we say it”; eventually leading her to adjust and accept the new identity people found for her-Bidya.
Amid the dense population bursting at the seams, colorful hustle bustle, almost dying tram and the all-over-the place dilapidated buildings are the people of Kolkata- cordial, mishti(sweet), and more than helpful. The director captures their demeanor of being shy yet assertive, polite yet coy and sprinkles them all over the movie with perfect balance.
Bidya traverses the hurdles and befriends these people with poise, adapts to the characters with her charm, grit, smile and chocolate, as applicable.
Just like any small search we do for our little things- you get to the thing you are looking for only after you have eliminated a lot of inconsequential places. The plot takes you through several twists and whirls- in the process leading to the next best clue. All these at a comfortable pace interspersed with breathing time for a few chuckles, time to admire Kolkata’s beauty and soak in the Rabindro Sangeet(Akla chalo) with the baritone of Amitabh Bachhan.
There are scenes(Bidya’s hair pin opens locks in one go) where you may feel it has been “force-fit”; but as you move with the narrative you will find that they are “comfort-fit” and do not leave behind creases.
The storyline isn’t constrained by location. It could have been any city and the movie would still have been brilliant. However, Kolkata seems to be the best location to have happened to the story. It so closely mirrors Bidya- conditionally weak but strong will to accomplish a mission; has to think about her future(child) yet needs to sort out her past.
To top it all, the climax couldn’t have been in any other city. The movie is about woman power in high voltage and no other city than Kolkata to show that. Women with white and red saree, faces smeared with vermilion, marching with the Durga deity on the auspicious Dussehra day. The goddess is the summation of power, patience, love and revenge of all women put together, who comes every year to clean up the mess created(mostly) by men.
Go watch it for sheer power and will -of Vidya, Bidya, Kolkata and Kokatans.