Having been a fan of the man ever since I watched Roopkatha Noy and Abby Sen (which I felt was ahead of its time), each time an Atanu Ghosh film releases I have a feeling of anticipation for it and am happy to state that I have managed to watch each of his films on the big screen even in this age of OTTs dominating the audience viewing pattern. So, when I went to watch Aaro Ek Prithibi, I had certain expectations from it but not limited to what the maverick Kaushik Ganguly will come up with as an actor and why the film had to be shot abroad which seemed like a must in all the articles I had read in this very tabloid, about the film.
Satrajit Sen
Relationships, loneliness, helplessness, resolve and a quest for the truth all have been intertwined in the film which begins with a marriage sequence between Shaheb Bhattacherjee (Aritro Chatterjee) and Tasnia Farin (Pratiksha) and how she lands in London only to find that her husband, who was supposed to be at the airport to receive her, was nowhere to be found and even his phone was switched off. A girl from the small town of Naihati landing in a foreign country for the first time naturally is shocked out of her wits to find herself in such a situation.
Tasnia, who has a good body of work to her credit, the web series Karagaar being the latest, is a revelation in the film. Having endured a childhood of extreme volatility, since her father (played with great conviction by Soumitra Chakraborty) was a small-time goon working at the behest of his factory bosses, and who was regularly picked up by the police, she is shown to be extremely attached to him and cannot come to terms with her mother’s remarriage. There are some very fine moments captured between the father and daughter which are smartly interwoven throughout the film, which builds up to the eventual climax and does not leave the audience feeling shocked at the developments.
Tasnia has a brooding expression throughout the entire film which correctly depicts how a woman in her position ought to feel. Moving with her suitcases and clueless about where she could go, Pratiksha bumps into Ayesha played by Anindita Bose who claims to be a counsellor and offers to help her. When no progress is made in finding Aritra, Pratiksha moves in with Ayesha almost forcefully despite Ayesha telling her to go back as she was convinced that Aritra will not be returning and had likely stood her up. Ayesha is firm in her determination to find out the truth and does not care about herself or her well-being in the process.
What unfolds in Pratiksha’s quest can be termed as a slowburn thriller without it being one in the traditional mould that we are used to seeing. She meets Srikanto, played with aplomb by Kaushik Ganguly, who plays a homeless violinist and boldly states that he does not beg from the public at large, in a park. He can apparently read faces and immediately identifies Pratiksha’s troubles while promising to help her. Pratiksha naturally thinks of him as a creep and runs away from him only to return later when she discovers the other side of Ayesha’s character and gets completely taken aback.
There are some absolutely magical moments created in the film when Pratiksha and Srikanto interact, like when he takes her to live with him in his run-down yacht and states that it is home but not on firm ground; when he narrates how he was once a treasurer of a club in Calcutta and ran away with the money collected as donations for a Puja; the way he breaks down while speaking about a girl who too was homeless living on the streets and was shot dead by unknown assailants or that classic tale he narrates about a famous conductor from France who unknown to him had come to the park and kept requesting him to play Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven and was so impressed by his playing, that he asked him to come to France with him to play in his philharmonic orchestra, only to pause, look at Pratiksha’s expression and state that the entire tale was made up and that it is his dream to be in such a situation while breaking down in tears. Known to be a prolific filmmaker, KG is a phenomenal actor as we all know, who is now being used as one, more and more by directors and that augurs well for the industry.
Anindita as Ayesha is as sharp as we have ever seen her and I must congratulate the people behind casting her. Her character has a very practical approach towards life and even when Pratiskha finds out about her actual profession she makes no big deal about it and states boldly that she was indeed a counsellor pre-Covid and was forced to turn to this profession. The confidence she exudes in this role is exemplary.
(L-R) Kaushik Ganguly, Shaheb Bhattacherjee
Shaheb, who is also underutilised in my personal opinion in our industry, has a role tailor-made for him. He walks, talks and behaves like a corporate software engineer and in the few scenes he has with Pratiksha, their chemistry is well-established. The scene atop a pick-up truck shot in the early hours of the morning, meandering through the country roads, will be firmly etched in the viewer’s mind for quite some time!
All said and done, the film belongs to Tasnia and the way she carries off the complex role with few dialogues and mostly facial expressions to play with, deserves top accolades. She is here to stay and go places for sure.
London has not been shown as the typical picture postcard place but alleys, wilderness and the underbelly have been very smartly captured by cinematographer Appu Prabhakar. The BGM too is very understated as it should be and there are only two songs sung very well by Porshia Sen and Samantak Sinha befitting the narrative. Debojyoti Misra scores high as the music director and not only because KG plays a violinist here! A special note to Sabarni Das for the costumes as she made each character look very much in place which is easier said than done.
The film has its own pace, especially in the first half and that is exactly how it was conceived and I dare say supposed to be. With a slow build-up to a climax which is not at all predictable, there is no frenzy in the proceedings ever and as a viewer, I was only left with a sense of a permeating relief when things end the way they do.
In my long conversations with Atanuda, he keeps emphasising on the fact that as a maker how he needs to keep evolving or bear the risk of falling prey to a repetitive pattern which he is scared of. He still says that the film I had made was nothing like anything he had seen before and that breaking the mould was the need of the hour. With each film that he is making this intention of his is very evident on screen and that is the only way we can hope to bring new, young and repeat audiences to watch Bengali movies at the theatres I feel. I also feel that the audiences too have their own share of responsibility to try and support different attempts being made by makers, by watching the films at the theatres. I know that tickets are costly but one needs to realise that only if the audience supports a film, can a film-maker run his family and go on making films by raising funds. So while the OTT platforms have indeed made us go into our comfort zone, I guess once in a while we can all go out and spend our hard-earned money at the theatres if there is a buzz around a film without maybe having a multitude of stars in it. Spare a thought on this, please.
I would end by congratulating Atanuda and the entire team of Aaro Ek Prithibi for daring to bend the conventions and buck the trend to give us something which is unique, in its narrative and the takeaways it leaves the viewer, including me, with.
