“Silence might be
gold… but when it quietly sneaks into any relationship, it has the capacity to turn
it cold.”
This is what happened
between Aditi and her mother Sarojini after the death of her father on 19th
April. “Unishe April” is a journey of
a day (specifically a death anniversary) in the life of Sarojini and Aditi, who
are connected for the sake of an institution we call “family”. Sarojini (Aparna Sen)
by now has found solace in her art (Dance). She has replaced her dead husband’s
memory with her deep love for the dance floor. “Aditi” aka Mithu (Debashree
Roy), a doctor in the making has lived the past 18 years mourning her father’s
death, and now she is busy separating her ways from the spotlight that her
mother’s career attracts.
So what
all is happening on 19th April?
Sarojini
spends her day taking dance classes. She has been nominated for prestigious
award and is speculating about the results. Aditi is back home on a short
vacation. Unlike her mother, she hates music. Aditi keeps herself busy by recollecting
her past in pieces of papers, and with hope of getting a phone call from her
boyfriend which she gets finally. Sarojini is winning the prize and at the same
time it’s the death anniversary of her husband. This creates an atmosphere of
misconceptions, hatred and jealousy. Aditi wants to mourn her father’s death
anniversary in peace unlike her mother who is busy in accepting appreciations for
winning the award. Aditi is sure about her mother forgetting the death
anniversary. On the other hand, her mother feels that Aditi is jealous about
her success. Sarojini is also not sure
whether she is happy with this career.
This
tensed and intensified situation finally puts Aditi in doldrums and she decides
to come out of it by committing suicide on 19th April.
What
happens next? (You need to watch the movie for that!)
Unishe April was Rituporno Ghosh second
directorial venture after "Hirer Angti" and his first attempt of doing something he
enjoys doing. His own words “I can only make films on relationships.
They intrigue me, fascinate me, it’s so unfathomable -- why we do what we do
and how others react to it.”
Unishe April is a classic example of one of the
beautiful relationships in the world, the relationship between a mother and
daughter. Unishe April explores the
lifeless relationship between Sarojini and Aditi and the reason behind it.
My Take on the
Movie: Though
it was Rituporno’s first endeavor with such cinema, he has lucratively
portrayed the basic nitty-gritty of everyday lives which can ruin relations. The
characters in the movie appear real and someone you can relate to at various
life stages. As a woman you can very well
empathise with “Sarojini”, who is juggling between her dreams, the necessities
of life, and her duties towards her daughter. As a teenager you can relate to Aditi’s
characters, and how we fail to understand our parents and conceive a notion
about them or how they will never understand us.
Let’s not
confuse the movie with a documentary on “guidelines for upbringing a child or
maintaining a relationship”. But when you sit through those 138 minutes, you
realize and learn so many things, which would make turn back to your own life
and smile… Things you can’t change, the clock which you can’t turn back!
Characters: To me, Aparna Sen, is a synonym to Smita
Patil. Why? Because of the conviction with which she plays the role and it
looks more than real cinema. Debashree Roy has done her due diligence that’s
all I can say, though she received national award for her performance. I didn’t
find that kick. We can rate her as good as Aishwarya in Raincoat. Other actors
have best suited their roles and nothing more to be spoken about.
Direction: Kudos to Rituporno Ghosh,
considering his first attempt on parallel cinema. You can feel the maturity
with which the movie is shot, probably some credit should be given to his
family background as well (His father was a documentary filmmaker, basically a
painter, as was his mother in filmmaking). Detailing has been brilliantly
worked on. And managing legendary actors like Arpana Sen is worth an applause.
All together Bengali cinema and now Bollywood has got a director who can keep
the heritage of parallel cinema alive.
Moral of the story:
Communication
is a necessity not an option. It is important to sculpt into words those
unexpressed love and care. Keeping the lips stitched is an ineffective way to get
the point across – It’s analogous to emotional abuse when taken to the extreme.
So are you still stuck with thoughts like “They
already know...”, “it’s not important as of now”, “will tell them on a special
day”, “as if they care how I feel”, “I am doing my duties, hardly matters if
they know it”, Blah Blah Blah?
Rudyard
Kipling said “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” So what are you waiting for? Let
us elude the silence creeping in any of our relationships here on. Go ahead…
communicate!