Apur Paanchali- A Paanchali of sorts

-

On a sudden visit to the ticket booking site, Book my show to catch up on the latest movies, theater, events doing the round of the NCR circuit, was pleasantly surprised to see a Bengali movie, Apur Panchali, playing in a limited edition version. Trying to claim of myself as a movie aficionado, I should really be ashamed of myself. Reason; this was the first time, I had heard of the movie and boy, it had already won the national awards and very active on the festival circuit. And here I was, and my ignorance.

The movie is a take on the numerous child stars who make it big with their one big movie as a child star and then they get lost. They somehow are unable to wipe off the adage they get associated with, through their first film. So, it could be the child from Home Alone or ET or The Kid or Bicycle Thieves or in our case Apu from Pather Paachali. Hence, the movie is a take on the child star Apu (read Subir Banerjee, his real name) and his reel to real life. The movie works on three timelines, the contemporary Subir Banerjee, the growing up years of Subir Banerjee and the interludes from the original Pather Paanchali. In a sense, it tries to showcase how the lives of Subir Banerjee and Apu are interwined. In a way quite similar, the reel and the real Apu. The plot is brilliant and everything seems to be going well for the movie. But, for one thing, the movie was watchable but not memorable.

The depth of the scenes and the moments one needs to built on with each frame. At the end it looks more like a docu drama. The characters are given minimal space to operate and they have a pattern to follow, since the director (Kaushik Ganguly) did not seem interested in letting the character emerge out of the scene, instead letting the moment becoming larger than the scene. Take for instance, the news of Subir's child death and the reaction of Parambrata versus the death of Durga in the original Pather Paachali and her father's reaction after he comes back from the city...Need I say more.

This is what makes the movie watchable, but leaves plenty to be desired. The pace could have been slower and should have left the audience to dig into the space. Somehow I feel that the Director could have left somethings for us audience to absorb and stay on with the moment, instead of hurriedly passing off to the next, without having the opportunity to sink in the prior scene. There are several moments of such kind through the movie, and I for one felt let down. Add in a whole lot of cliches through the movie and the editing which made for the sloppiness further. I will not rate this as one of the best I saw.

Moments in the film that stand out. None I can recall, except for some initial part of the movie where the character of Subir Banerjee was growing up as a football player. Unfortunately, the director decided to close the chapter too soon. We know Subir has a brother, but that is about it. Looks like Kabuliwalah's wife. The present day Subir and the recluse life he leads, the constant chasing by the Satyajit Ray film academy intern, or the moments Subir shares with his wife. All look hurried and sullen and never a moment to absorb. Sigh! A brilliant plot gone haywire.

Parambroto was convincing, Parno Mitra was a disaster and the rest of the star cast including the present day Subir (Ardhendu Banrjee) were all average with nothing much to write home about. In all, my euphoria of getting to see a Bengali cinema in NCR lasted for a limited time, considering the limited release of Bengali cinema here in NCR, as against regular weekly release of a Tamil or Telegu cinema, à°µిà°¸ుà°—ుà°—ా!       

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dhoom 3: Overrated, Over-hyped, and an over the top Aamir Khan

-
Image
Coming back to writing a piece after a very long time. I think about 3 months. Unfortunately, there was not a single film worth mention that released between now and September that is worth a shot. For that matter there is nothing in 2013 that is actually worth a mention. There were so MANY films and so much of hype and so much of marketing built around these films, but each one was a disappointment and perhaps a bigger one preceding the other. We come to that in a recap of 2013, probably as a next piece. But for now, it is Dhoom 3. What to write? What to say? Frame after frame it is Aamir Khan and not one but two, did I give out the suspense? Well nothing much in giving it away, as there is nothing at stake in the movie to give it away. YRF, Vijay Krishna Acharya, and everybody involved in the process of making the movie seems more enamored than anything else with the lead star. Makes you feel bad for Jai Dikshit and Ali. And as luck would have it, the only parts of the movie wh
Read more

Ramu Kaka, the family Physician, Kheer, Silk Gown et al...

-
Image
  Cinema is a medium to convey a message; message which are verbal or visual based. It has the power to alter narrative or perhaps the discourse too. In the 50's 60's and even more pronounced in the 70's and 80's film stars commanded a huge influence on the audience. Hair style, clothes and accessories were copied by audience blindly. The Sadhana Cut became a famous hairstyle or the bouffant of Asha Parekh or the Sharmila Tagore style eye liners; even the men folk were not left behind. The ear hiding hairstyle of Amitabh Bachchan or the bell bottom or the unbuttoned shirt (only the first 2-3 buttons) went on to be cult classics. But, this rage was/is actually a global phenomena. It happened across the world and it still continues to create a sense of dystopian world which audience are more than happy to lap up.  In more recent times, two Hindi films, Dil Chahta Hai and later Zindagi Na Mile Dobara went on to change the way how youth looked at lifestyle and travel. Infac
Read more

Buno Haansh: If you have read the story, don't go

-
Image
Like I said in the title, if you have the read the original, which I think came out in the last or last to last year, Sharodiya Shonkha, do not watch the film as it is a complete let down. But if you have not read the original by Samaresh Majumdar, the movie is worth a dekko. The way different characters starting from the protagonist Amal to the characters, Shohag, Rijula and even all sundry characters develop are no where close to the original. What further adds to the agony, the climax scene which has been altered keeping Dev's image into account, which is unfortunate. The film to put it simply lacks the desired drama and the suspense, which if one has read the book will understand. It looks like a narration currently and there are moments where the film falls in a trap of trying to do justice to the book and the creative license it wants to use. Perhaps, this trap always remain when one tries to adapt a story or a classic novel into a cinema format. Some of the classic n
Read more