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12 ART & CULTURE DELHI THE HINDU Magazine THE HINDU Magazine DELHI ART & CULTURE 13
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Taking a stand Stills relationship with the Chief Minister. about filmmaking. When asked FILMY DIALOGUE
from Dutta’s films. Of the 34 Trinamool MPs in the Lok whether the director was more CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
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Sabha, five are actors (Moon Moon important or the producer, Dutta said
Sen, Dev, Satabdi Roy, Sandhya Roy the Chief Minister was the most On men and women
and Tapas Pal). The BJP, with 268 important, given the number of her
MPs, has seven actors. In 2014, photographs on the festival
Bengali superstar Dev accompanied promotional material. “Right then, I
the Chief Minister’s delegation on her knew this guy would get into trouble,” Within the larger arc of family and love,
maiden trip abroad (to Singapore). said filmmaker Judhajit Sarkar. there is an intense gender mapping
The Chief Minister’s campaign trail Bhobishyoter Bhoot, Dutta’s fourth
sometimes has filmstars making film, which was taken off theatres last
cameo appearances. At a rally in month, is a political satire that indicts rankie doesn’t want his friends
Murshidabad in 2014, the sisters Riya all political parties equally. It is to visit him at home, which he
and Raima Sen popped out of Didi’s believed to have reserved its sharpest Download Indian Library App calls the worst in the
helicopter to speak for 45 seconds; 45 barbs for the ‘Chhinnomool Party’. On Fneighbourhood. It doesn’t
seconds of English with a couple of have much to do with the unfinished
Bengali words thrown in. In construction, exposed bricks, or that
September 2018, journalist Indranil it stands on the shabby margins; but
Roy pointed to the similarity between because it’s also a metaphorical
Dev’s new film Hoichoi Unlimited and wasteland of conflict among its
a Pakistani film, and was picked up by residents — all men; brothers who
the Kolkata police for questioning. can’t see eye to eye; and women
entirely missing from this world. tone and tenor than the more intense,
Silent on some stuff At the other end is yet another bittersweet explorations of male
The closeness between the Trinamool home, an elegant one, peopled female principles in Kumbalangi
and Tollywood, as Kolkata’s film predominantly by women, three of Nights. Nonetheless, I could see
industry is called, has not resulted in them — a mother, her two daughters — parallels. Ashok Kumar’s hatred for
BIG SCREEN direct propaganda films of the sort but commandeered by a man — the women in Chalti Ka... stems from the
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Bollywood has made. So far, there’s husband of the elder daughter. All perceived betrayal by one, and here
been no film on Kanyashree, the might appear to be in harmony here the brothers nurse an inchoate sense
Fishy tales from government’s awardwinning girl child but there’s an incipient unease, a of loss and longing for the mother who
education scheme, like the Bollywood
creepiness that hangs heavy,
left them to take up the path of god.
patriarchy lurking in ways weirder
Their one meeting with her neither
films on Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. Nor
a biopic yet on the Chief Minister. than can be imagined even as a offers a clear closure nor hope of any
Tollywood has instead made rebellion against it is also seething. togetherness or renewal.
interesting, even aesthetic films, on
In Satte Pe Satta, the woman plays
Between these two gender
West Bengal #70929 transgender lives (Nagarkirtan, 2019, imbalanced homes and “abnormal” a more “gendered” stereotype. She
families lies Malayalam filmmaker
becomes the civilisational force, the
Chitrangada, 2012), handsome period
pieces (Ek Je Chhilo Raja, 2018),
Madhu C. Narayanan’s debut feature
one to tame the men and turn them
from ‘animal’ to human. In
detective stories, and films on Muslim
Kumbalangi Nights, which has
marginalisation and crime networks
(Zulfiqar, 2016), but has steered clear
layered. Despite being on the fringes
success, even in Mumbai, in the times
of the unstoppable Gully Boy.
of the narrative, the women, like
of presentday politics. At one point in A Aschorjyo Prodeep, the hero acquired a strong fan base and cult Kumbalangi Nights, the idea gets more
Dutta’s third film Meghnadbodh says: “What’s the point of going to London? Bobby’s love interest Baby, are self
Bengal’s film industry might have a crush on Mamata Banerjee, but Anik Dutta’s cinema has been Rohoshyo (2017), a beautifullymade Love and more aware, in control in their
thriller, is also political. It confronts London is here!” It was a direct dig at the At one level, Kumbalangi Nights is relationships, steering it the way they
consistently political. Any surprise that his latest film suddenly went off theatres? the complicit silence of the Bengali Chief Minister, who had said a number of about dysfunctional families and want to and overthrowing the
middle and uppermiddle class to the times that Kolkata would become London tortured souls, frayed tempers and
brutal State suppression of the flawed beings. It is also about finding A
SOHINI CHATTOPADHYAY films. As ever, Bengalis have to be win, of course, and so the ulcerous real estate. And these media houses Naxalite movement in the 70s. Films February 11, one of its producers love and redemption. Within the Shammy, the barber with the
difficult. The intimidation crew tasked reality of the real estate mafia, their unambiguously supported the (including those of Ray and Mrinal received a letter from the Kolkata larger, familiar arc and a charming perfect thick moustache, is
hen Anik Dutta’s first film to secure the property is made up of toxic nexus with political parties, the Trinamool. In his next film, Aschorjyo Sen) and novels have chronicled the Police’s intelligence branch requesting romance on the side, it has a unique
Bhooter Bhabishyat goondas on political party rolls, a citizens’ powerlessness, feels Prodeep (2013), Dutta showed a romance and restlessness of those a private screening because the police way of enveloping you in the world of inspired by the ‘Complete Man’ in
(2012), made on a budget direct pointer to cadres of the Left laughable for a moment. Kolkata full of jazzy gated colonies, years and the tyranny unleashed by had “received inputs” that the film its troubled characters, especially the the Raymonds’ ad, and has
Wof ₹60 lakh, (officially) Front party (who’ve since been signed That was 2012. The previous year, shiny restaurants, lounges and salons. the Congress government. What they contained elements that may incite eldest brother Saji (Soubin Shahir). delusions about his manhood
earned ₹3 crore, it surprised up by Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Mamata Banerjee had defeated the Exactly the sort of ‘development’ the haven’t spoken of is the disowning of “public sentiments”. On February 16, His drooping shoulders, the guilt of
everyone, including Dutta. It was Congress). Left Front that had governed West Trinamool had been promising. I the Naxalites by their own friends and the film quietly and suddenly stopped not being able to play the role of the conventional expectations and bonds.
arguably the biggest hit in the Bengali Bengal for 34 years straight. It was the don’t know if it was intentional, but family. Only Mahasweta Devi’s Hajaar playing in theatres after running for proxy head of the family (“I took care In being sure of where they are
film industry, made by a man who had Beating melancholia year Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani made the production design of the film was Churashir Maa (1974) addressed this just a day. Unlike Padmaavat (2018), of them as long as I could,” he says), headed, they also give a direction to
been trying to make a film for 20 years More than anything, the film was a Kolkata look like never before — an tacky — like the Big Ben replica that’s guilt. Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The whose release Chief Minister Banerjee being humiliated by his younger the aimless men. When women enter
and failing. cheerful political satire in the tradition enigmatic, energetic city where been constructed in the heart of the Lowland (2013) and Dutta’s supported, there was no violence brother, finding an anchor in a quasi the overly male frame of the film, it
In the film, the plan to tear down of Satyajit Ray’s Goopy Gyne Bagha Eastern Metropolitan Bypass. At one Meghnadbadh Rahasya are a part of around this film, no noise, no threats. sibling, who is also his partner in an becomes all about disruptions and
an elegant old house and build a jazzy Byne (1969) and Hirak Rajar Deshe A point in the film, the hero says: this delayed reckoning. Only silence. ironing business, and eventually upheavals, about renegotiations of
mall threatens the ghosts who (1980). The industry had seen a Tollywood has made interesting, “What’s the point of going to London? Dutta is a straight talker. At the ............................................................................. reconnecting with his brothers as he space and emotions and, eventually,
live there. They refuse to live renewal in the 90s with the intimate even aesthetic films, on London is here!” It was a direct dig at Kolkata International Film Festival last The writer is an independent journalist faces up to the storm raging within about ringing in farreaching changes.
in a shiny new place, unlike and prolific work of the late Rituparno the Chief Minister, who had said a year, he was a speaker on a panel based in Kolkata. Twitter: @sohinichat himself and lets the tears flow. His big All this is done with moments that
the more accommodating Ghosh. But Ghosh worked in the transgender lives, period pieces, number of times that Kolkata would achievement is a small one — being are at once real and off the wall. A
ghosts in some recent Hindi domain of gender and sexual politics, detective stories, and films on become London. respectfully addressed as ‘Chetta’ florid eccentricity runs along,
his films didn’t explore politics crime networks, but has steered (elder brother) by the wastrel brother especially in Fahadh Faasil’s
politics. Besides, Bengalis have a firmly clear of present-day politics Star power Bobby (Shane Nigam). delectable turn as Shammy, the
talent for monkharap — melancholia — It’s not that poriborton (change) has However, beyond the intricacies of barber with the perfect thick
and the work of the most not happened. Something does feel characters and relationships, it’s the moustache, who is inspired by the
celebrated filmmakers, from insurance salesmen who don’t meet different about Kolkata now, and not dense gender mapping in the script ‘Complete Man’ in the Raymonds’ ad,
Ritwik Ghatak to Rituparno their sales targets make sure to hit all of it is bad. This is not the space to that has stayed with me. The woman has delusions about his manhood and
Ghosh, even the later films of their assassination targets. And a talk about other policies, but one of less world of Saji, Boney, Bobby and superiority that’s rooted in a freakish
Ray and Mrinal Sen, is sharp political film like Bhooter the visible changes is in the Bengali Frankie took me back to Chalti Ka control of people, especially women,
suffused with brooding. This Bhabishyat was among the biggest hits entertainment industry, which now Naam Gaadi (1958) and Satte Pe Satta around him. He is the acme of
is not to say their films are not that year. Somehow, Kolkata felt full of has a confidence that was not there (1982). At one level, the comparison perverse and pathological masculinity
funny or don’t contain joy, but possibility. even when Ghosh got Bollywood stars might seem far that the film gets one up on. Hope and
the overall aura is bleak. In In 2013, news broke of the Saradha like Aishwarya Rai and Amitabh fetched. After all, healing in Kumbalangi Nights rests on
contrast, Dutta, an and Rose Valley chit fund scams. Bachchan to shoot Bengali films in these Hindi films are the feminine principle that the men
adman with an affinity Millions of poor, small investors were Kolkata. The number of film and TV comedies, lighter in need to have a dialogue with.
for punning, brought to cheated of their savings. The Saradha hoardings in the city have noticeably
his film something akin group had a finger in every pie, grown in the past eight years or so. Namrata Joshi is Associate Editor-Cinema with
to glee. The ghosts including media, film production and The industry enjoys a close The Hindu in Mumbai.
