Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Tatino
OK, so i have never ever written a review for any film here in my 10+ years of existence on IMDb. But having caught this unexpected gem at a recent film-fest in my city (which is a rare one too as i have never visited any kinda film fest ever) and as i found no review of it written yet, thought i might shed my usual selfish self and contribute...So, i entered the screening on being told that the director is late Satyajit Ray's son and it's gonna be about music. But it was being screened in an auditorium which had no air-conditioning that day and in which i had already seen last 2 shows. As the director himself came up to introduce his film, he notified that he was not THE Sandeep Ray most were expecting, but a namesake. Already having settled in my seat, my heart sank; maybe i should walkout now, i thought to myself. The director also specified that he shot this film over the course of 20 years. That irked my interest a bit. Then the film starts somewhere in the 90s and proceeds to document a young guy just out of college, with aspirations of being a poet. Now, a red-alert in my mind goes on. First, this film's language is Bengali, my own native-tongue, and it deals with a place linked to my own roots. Second, i am always vary of poets and poetry in film nowadays as lot of them are just pseudo-intellectual pretentious works. And specially this being in my native tongue, i knew i would catch on to the bulsh*t far ahead of the others. And no air- conditioning still. Will I be able to survive it, I think to myself. But as destiny would have it, I stayed on (probably due to it being a tiny auditorium and me not wanting to embarrass myself and disturb the rest.) And was I deeply rewarded! A deeply moving cinematic portrait of an artist as a young man it turned out to be, with some sequences being played out in ways that it was hard to believe that it was all real! The intensity of the lives involved, the poetry, the passion for words and the humility and raw persistence of the main protagonist deeply resonated with me. All of life's bittersweet, tender and intense moments were present as if some gifted script writer had written it. The film follows the life-arc of the poet/protagonist Sarthak Roychowdhary living in the city of Kolkata, India across the span of 20 years, being shot at 3 different phases of his life. We see him get married, we see him having a kid, we see his life's small details in all cinematic grandeur. We also witness a few surprising turns in his life and how he deals with them. And also we get a glimpse of his delightfully quirky family and the constant radical debates that ensue in the household. But it never gets heavy, and as a gentleman rightly observed during the post-screening Q&A, for a film dealing with some dark issues about life and realities, it never becomes depressing. The protagonist's love for words and longing for the truth practically seeped out of the screen. And yet for all his idealism and aspirations, his seemingly unperturbed acceptance of the practicalities of life, combined with the persistence of is thoughts throughout, made it very life-affirming. And the icing on the cake was the brilliantly juxtaposed poetic-narrative that linked the various scenes and time-periods, narrated by the poet himself. Perhaps one of the best on-screen poetic narratives and recitation i have heard in Indian Cinema for decades.The film ended with a standing ovation of sorts and the question that burnt in everybody's mind was how did the director pull it off! How could he get shots without the subjects ever looking into the camera? How did he know where the protagonist's life is going? Was there moments where he got into problem while shooting? How is the protagonist's family reacting to the film? The director along-with the poet Sarthak Roychowdhury patiently answered all the queries and also pointed out that this is like an open-ended project and maybe in next 10-15 years he may decide to revisit and add on to the film, or not! Or maybe one day the poet's son decides to continue it further! He also got applauded for maintaining a consistent style of shooting across the time-period, thus adding to the cinematic quality, and which i felt corresponded brilliantly with the continuing persistence of the protagonist's thoughts, words and actions. The director also stated that as surprising it maybe to look at, he shot it on all kinds of formats, as and when they were available to him. The director has even edited and done the sound of the film, and in my opinion done a very good job with combining all of it to create a seamless and inspiring and heart-warming fable from a real life. I don't remember much of the music; will have to re-watch, but it blended in just right. All in all, I came out of the auditorium a much happier and wiser person, and not even minding my sweaty brows! I would recommend this film to the lovers of quirky and cinema/documentary blurring pieces like 'Big River Man' and 'Banksy: Exit Through The Gift Shop'; though not that grand in it's tone, but just as entertaining, and also to anyone fond of brilliant character study of an artist and to anybody fond of good poetry or who share a love for words. And as another person pointed out in the Q&A, a brilliantly worded and apt title!
