This is the on-screen equivalent of a Cormorant, with playful panache, drifting neck-deep in a river.
No, a poet did not actually turn these lines into cinema. The 'poet' is Indranil Roychowdhury's nickname.
This time, he tells the story of the urban realities of a city just across the river, with insurmountable buildings and the people who take up pockets of space inside them, and the adjunct restrictive, narrow roads in-between.
We are first introduced to one of the story's primary characters, Shotto. Played by Shohel Mondol, Shotto waits for a shady real-estate boss who eats in an empty lot beside a pond, while he watches waggish Tiktok/YouTube videos. After he reprimands and slaps Shotto for stealing a bike, he tells him never to show his face again.
We cut to a brothel, where Shotto is 'romantically' interested in Beauty, a sex worker. Beauty's actual identity is Bangladesh's Sarla Sharkar, who was deceived by her husband and forcefully sold off in India. Of the two Manik Bandopadhyay short stories that the film has been inspired by, the story of Shotto and Sarla - intertwined with love, mistrust and shenanigans - is from "Bishakto Prem". Actress Chandreyee Ghosh does a commendable job of bringing Sarla to life on-screen.
It is, perhaps, the right time to provide a disclaimer that the portrayal is not literary per se - and neither does it need to be. For the requirements of an actual cinema, the screenplay does its own job.
Parallelly, we get to know of the story of Soma, played by Aupee Karim and her husband, played by Ritwick Chakraborty. This is the initial reason that I wanted to watch the Bangladesh-India joint production. Alchoholic Chandu (Ritwick), who lost his job at a mill, is financially struggling. Despite that, he wants his son to go to school, learn music. When Soma takes up a job as a house help in a high-society apartment, their conjugal life is highly disturbed.
The sheer discrepancy of how we, as Bangladeshi, both view and portray the roles of a house help and their treatment on the other side of the border is fascinating. We never really see the portrayal of our house help, whom we call 'bua', as people having aspirations, like Soma does. She wants to send her child to and English medium school, and lives a normal, middle-class life. On the other side of the coin, we portray them as either the comic relief, or as highly tertiary and unintelligent characters. Chandu is also educated, politically knowledgeable and perhaps, with every bit of insecure masculinity as we can see in our own - especially when Ritwick, who is absolutely stellar in his portrayal of insecurity and tantrums, decides that it is indeed better to deliver drugs than earn less than his wife, as he does not at all approve of her 'lowly' profession.
I would also like to talk about a few scenes from the film, which are heart-warming owing to the sheer relatability and simplicity of Soma. The old gentleman whom she looks after in her new job, their discreet bonding on morning walks when he, against doctors' orders, slips in some 'luchi' in his diet, are stellar. When he quotes Stephen Hawking on how the world will one day destroy itself, Soma simply replies, "These are bad people, don't listen to them!" The blissful ignorance that we tend to put ourselves through is narrated beautifully through a few lines.
So tired, overworked, yet the 'Maya' (affection) in her face remains! Another scene where Shotto, with all the last drops of willpower, tries to save Sarla whom he, himself poisoned, is deceptively beautiful. Every character in this portrayal lives in his or her own world - -be it the sex worker who adoringly treats Shotto to 'chingri-bhaat', or the rich fishmonger who frequents Sarla, trying to tell a story of how he wanted to break away from his father's business.
A minor, fleeting character who ties the story and the title together is a bum, who pics up 'jonjal' (trash) from the street. From the beginning to end, we see him nonchalantly do his job in-between scenes.
Anyways, it has been said that an honest critic is the true friend of an artiste. While the adaptation of Manik Bandopadhyay is adept for what it is, it is too formulaic to keep the audience's attention for a long while. The editing and sound design do not create any 'epic' moments, that an audience might expect during the climax. I am, admittedly a drama enthusiast, but I will still say that the film slightly lacks the 'life' that the aforementioned flaws keep from culminating.
However, if you don't feel even slightly curious about people like Soma and their stories, and the earnest effort of the crew to tell them, who will? 'Maya', or affection, is for everyone, even ones who pick up the 'jonjal' (trash)!
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tgam/5BNFJIP44VGB7C7T4OFSLKLDRA.jpg "Familiar tropes make a good heist book irresistible")
