Some movies are so magical; they can make your mind fresh & happy. They leave you lingering on the storyline. The trail of the story fills your mind. Phoring(“Dragonfly”) is such a film that it leaves the charm forever. This Bengali language film directed by debut director Indranil Roychowdhury is worth watching for a great unconventional teacher-student relationship that is so pure that will melt your heart. This is a children’s film for adults.
The protagonist is Phoring(Akash Adhikari), a teenage boy student of class VII. He grows up in a small town near North Bengal where the whole town survives the shutdown of a factory. Maladjusted and a born loser, Phoring talks with imaginary voices in his head he calls God. He shares his secrets, anger, sorrows to his God. One day a new teacher Doel Mitra(Sohini Sarkar), a highly educated, smart, straight forward, city girl arrives in school and marked the extraordinary imagination power in Phoring. She offered free tuition to nurture his creative skills. She opens up his mind to the unknown and exciting world. He starts to believe that it is not dream. This made his classmates taunt & envy him.
Doel celebrated his Birthday and gifted him a mobile phone. He caught delight moments of Doel in his new mobile to preserve such memorable celebration. But that video leaked out in the entire town by one of his envied classmate and went viral. Subsequently Doel was harassed by the school committee and Phoring got TC. Doel starts to avoid Phoring after this and her cousin brother came to live with her. Suddenly, Phoring & his friend discover boxes full of firearms in the locked down factory-yard hidden by Doel’s brother. He exclaims this to Doel to get her attention and Doel with his brother disappears abruptly leaving behind a trail of doubt and suspicion. Police smells terrorism and searches for them. In the meanwhile Phoring flew off to Kolkata to find & meet his teacher. He worked hard day & night to survive in the city. At last, Phoring managed to meet Doel. This heart-melting story ends on promising note.
Acting is effortless, nothing to say about it. Sohini Sarkar and Akash Adhikari acted their heart out that is beyond criticism. Sohini received the Best Actress award for playing Doel. Akash seemed too promising. Ritwick Chakraborty as Doel’s cousin was outstanding as always, Shankar Debnath as Phoring’s father and Sejuti Roy Mukherjee as Phoring’s mother are convincing. Sourav Basak played Lattu, Phoring’s friend, is notable.
This film has received several national & International awards. Brilliant script! Mind blowing narration! Excellent cinematography by Indranil Mukherjee is eye-soothing: Framed a small town’s day & night aptly. Sharp editing done by Sumit Ghosh: Not a single frame is extra. The background score is pleasing by Prabuddha Banerjee makes the mood perfect.
I will give Phoring 3.8 out of 5 stars.