Shandar by Mandakini

By Anirban Halder / Washington Bangla Radio USAA film with an aged protagonist has always been rare as it is considered risky venture in commercial terms. More so if it tells a simple story of simple lives, devoid of familiar sentiments and mainstream elements. One such instance that comes to mind readily is Ray's Paras Pathar, where he chose to cast a character actor, popularly known as a `Comedian'- Tulsi Chakraborty in the lead. That the film became a landmark of his career and also its maker's is history. In recent times Swet Patharer Thala and Lathi are two such films that went on to become successes at the box office. But all the three were from seasoned filmmakers, whose work the audience were familiar with. Hence a poster of a current release that shows Mithun, playing more or less his age, in a warm hug with an aged woman (an unknown face), made by a new director, is supposed to raise curiosity.Shukno Lanka (Dry red chili) is about those junior artists who add to the flavour of the films where they act in bit roles, may be in one scene or two, but don't draw attention of audience, much what dry red chilies do to curries. It tells the story of Chinu Nandi (Mithun Chakraborty), a junior artist in his middle age, who is content in his job. Though Chinu struggles to ensure a modest, low profile living with his loving wife Bela (Angana Bose), he has a dormant desire inside him to prove his mettle given an opportunity. On a parallel track it shows the triumph of Joysundar Sen (Sabyasachi Chakraborty), a critically acclaimed director whose films do well abroad, picking up an award in Berlin Film Festival. Joysundar comes across Isabella (Emma Brown), an Australian actress in awe of his work, and also a fascinating short story called Paras Pathar by Ritwik Ghatak, that inspired him to film it. At an important turning point, Joysundar casts Chinu to play the protagonist of his film based on Paras Pathar ......and Chinu is catapulted to the big league.It is not a difficult guess what an actor of Mithun's calibre can bring to the table for such a role. As expected, he has carried the film on his broad shoulders creating Chinu Nandi who will leave a lasting impression on every audience member's mind. And to give the credit where it is due, that's because of the way the character was written by Gaurav, beside Mithun's engaging performance. One indeed was curious to see how Mithun revisits his own struggling days peppered with humiliation at the beginning of his career through Chinu Nandi (especially so, as Chinu is a struggler of Mithun's present age) at such a height of his career. And Mithun is spot on! Chinu is brought alive with the perfect body language and nuances. He even lets go his all-so-familiar hairstyle for the sake of getting under the skin of Chinu, with side-parted thinning hair, showing a bald pate in the middle. Sabyasachi matches step by step with Mithun in his portrayal of the proud and arrogant Joysundar who believes it is all him who will be talked about, no matter whatever fine a performance an actor has delivered in his film. Sharing screen with Mithun, yet being noticed in almost every scene is no mean achievement, especially for a new face. And Angana Bose is a revelation here. It wasn't easy to portray a lower middle class homemaker- doing household chores, happy in her world of daily soap operas and basking in the perceived glory of her husband's acting calibre- never going over the top or the least bit melodramatic. And Angana really impresses with a finely measured performance. All I want to ask her, just like, I am sure, many in the audience, is where she has been all this while. Emma Brown is perfect as Isabella who has a passion for good cinema that is so strong that she bails out Joysundar, someone she admires as a director of calibre, when his producer backs out due to poor business prospect of his films. Debashree impresses after long as the director's wife, suffering acute loneliness in her family of two, her only `polite' demand from her celebrity husband is a little `together' time, that gets unfulfilled in the course of his busy schedule (He starts scripting of Paras Pathar just after return from Berlin Film Festival in a hotel room for solitude.). Shaheb Chetterjee is good as the rising star in the industry. Only the director would have done well keeping in mind that Bangla mainstream has hardly had a bearded hero. The late Kunal Mitra plays the reigning superstar well. (The character is popularly known by his nickname. Any reference point here?). Saswata Chatterjee has done a class job with dubbing for Kunal after he passed away.The technical department is as competent. Gaurav Panday is the able captain of the ship as the writer-director. Besides offering the audience some good writing that we come across rarely these days in Bangla cinema, he ably demonstrates what we call telling a simple tale simply, and excels at that. The general cinema-loving audience craves for such a soul-touching story that stays in their memory for a lifetime, just like they do for such a well-written character as Chinu that they can connect with at a deeper level. I am in fact a little amazed at his dialogue-writing, considering he lives in Mumbai, and hasn't apparently worked much in Kolkata (He co-wrote Anuranan with Aniruddha Roy Choudhury though). Mahesh Ane's camera captures the glitz of Berlin and today's Tollygunge in the right tone, touching upon the latter's rich history. Gaurav has used music intelligently, providing relief at the right points and embellishing the film with the entertainment element and character. Debajyoti Mishra delivers a wonderful score. From the Asa jaoa track sung by Bonny Chakraborty (of Parikrama band) that comes back over and over again to provide the right background note, to Sundari kamala sung and performed on-screen by Paban Das Baul, with a fresh, urbanized take on this popular old folk number, through the remake of Kishore Kumar's famous Shing nei tobu naam tar singho into a disco track (sung by Rupam of Fossils)- all the compositions are spot on. Mahadeb Shee's edit job holds a balanced, leisurely pace throughout. Particularly impressive was the slide change style in the scene where Chinu is narrating Bela his interactions with his foreign producer. One only wished the tonga ride footage was trimmed a bit.The tonga ride in the night, Chinu's only luxury in his mundane life and the much needed quality time with his wife, not only adds a dimension to his character, but also very subtly gives a thinking point to the busy professionals of today, who are guilty of compromising of quality family time, that if one has a zest for life he finds a way to give it what it merits despite all the busyness of work. Chinu, though a branded loser in his industry, demonstrates a strong, character, that not only makes him realize his secret dream of playing a lead role with success, but also enables him to win hearts of the audience (of Shukno Lanka) effortlessly. At the core of it is the inspiring quality of giving only the best to his work, no matter however small a role it is. So much so, that even the superstar throws him out of a film because he thought Chinu might steal the sole scene with him with his natural performance. I can't thank Gaurav enough for writing Chinu Nandi. This is one of the characters that grows beyond a film. The story ends at the right note with a morning shot of the hoarding of Paras Pathar with Chinu's face showing in large proportion, as he shows it to his wife at the end of a tonga ride.As many other good films, Shukno Lanka has its share of blemishes. I can't agree with the casting of the late Kunal Mitra in the role of the reigning superstar. With a bad wig, and puffed face, Kunal had just not got the look. The bangal tongue that Chinu converses in with Bela could be better at times. Also for Chinu, on a daily wage of Rs 200, affording tonga rides frequently doesn't look believable (With due credit for the symbolism created by it though). But you tend to accept all this for the wonderful experience you take along after you step out of the auditorium. After all, in how many films do you see a standing encore at the end? Looking forward to Gaurav's next (Spaghetti 24X7, in Hindi, shot in Kolkata, starring Mithun again) and wish he makes more films in Bangla.