Guess what. I have watched the movie just now in my computer since I didnt do what I was supposed to in friday noon, and so, was feeling like killing time. Thats why I watched this movie. But did I kill my time? Far from it. I just saw a movie which I should have seen long back. It has been two years since its release.
The film isnt your regular Bollywood fare - no nachna gana and purposeless rona dhona or dishoom dishoom. Rather, it churns usual emotions in some unsual times and is set at unsual backdrop. The simultaneity of sighs and groans presents the most effective picture. The scenes range from lyrical(in the abandoned forest guest house) to rioteering savagery. The most haunting scene is when Raja (Rahul Bose)finds the dentures of a slaughtered old man by the riverbed where others are brushing their teeth.
Konkona’s eyes tell a thousand stories and so does Rahul Bose’s face. Meenakshi’s (Konkona Sensharma) coming of age from an orthodox Tamil Brahmin to a normal being is pictured on celluloid. She metamorphoses from a person disliking even the touch of a Muslim to one who ’almost loves’ the Muslim guy. Sequences between a married woman and her companion really touches the softest corner of your heart.
Aparna Sen(Writer-Director) mocks at our educated people when they believe in the caste system. Meenakshi, a PG in Physics, and her Father-in-Law, and endocrinologist, are firm believers in the evil of caste. The Director takes her two protagonists only as far as they can go. They take each others leave, reluctantly, when Meenakshi’s husband comes to the station to receive her. The scene lefts us feeling bereft, yet somehow wiser human beings.