Mrinal Sen was one of the greatest ambassadors of parallel cinema on the global world stage; a true cinematic giant who explored the political and social situation of Bengal and India in his storytelling. He adapted the aesthetics of the French new wave and was perhaps the first filmmaker in India to introduce the idea of playing with form within the context of cinema which made him a giant in cinema history. Now I can keep going on and on but it would just be rephrasing what the world already knows about this filmmaker. To many cineastes, Mrinal Sen was an influence in pushing the envelope of how to tell a story using the medium of cinema to voice their self or political views and to a majority of the common man Mrinal Sen represented the art-house cinema tag that would scare them.
In India, we have a tendency to put great pioneers on a pedestal and create fear in order to generate respect. One would expect a biopic which would encapsulate the journey of Mrinal Sen who fought his way to making an indelible mark in the history of global cinema. But did we know this man would take matchboxes from his friends and colleagues on set and keep them in his pocket? This is where Anjan Dutt’s Chaalchitra Ekhon blows the idea of the biopic out of the park.
Anjan Dutt was a regular actor and collaborator of Mrinal Sen. He could’ve chosen the common path of idolising the great filmmaker but instead, he chose to follow Mrinalda’s heart. He chose the difficult road to make a film about how a young Anjan (in this film known as Ranjan) who comes from the hills, is Anglicised, plays the guitar, works in the theatre, adapts works of Sartre and gets cast by Mrinalda (in this film known as Kunal Sen) and these two men of two different generations bond despite their differences which are plenty.
Chaalchitra Ekhon is far from a conventional biopic. Does it sound weird if I were to say this is a hilarious and yet emotional film about two people who anchor each other? Probably it would sound weird but unfortunately, that’s the film Anjanda made and to be honest if one were to think hard perhaps this is the film Mrinal Sen would want Anjan Dutt to make — a very personal film. You see Mrinal Sen spent his life battling contradictions because to him his films were an extension of his own beliefs. And if you were to look at Anjan Dutt’s work — this would be the obvious film for him to make.
This is the man who started off as an actor in Mrinal Sen’s films. Just as he was becoming the face of Bengali parallel cinema he switched gears and brought Tintin and Calcium into Bengali music and became one of the most loved singer-songwriters ever to come out of Calcutta. Just as his music career was peaking he almost abandoned it to jump into filmmaking and talked about the modern Bengali in films like The Bong Connection, Chalo Let's Go and Madly Bangali to again switch gears to introduce the idea of a franchise detective called Byomkesh. When Byomkesh became the IP to jump on for box office, Anjanda was the first to abandon it all to explore personal stories.
Chaalchitra Ekhon felt like one of his most personal stories. To me it felt like he finally came to terms with his love-hate relationship with what Mrinal Sen stood for. Ranjan hates Calcutta and the communist propaganda around him. He is guilty that he would like to work with Kunal Sen because he is a great filmmaker but doesn’t believe in his ideologies. Turns out Mrinal Sen and Anjan Dutt remained collaborators for life. It shows the greatness in Mrinal Sen and begins with his ability to accept differences of opinion.
Sawon Chakraborty plays an exceptional Ranjan by interpreting a well-known Anjan Dutt in his own way. Anjan Dutt pulls out a career-best performance as Kunal Sen. He embodied Mrinal Sen more than he tried to imitate him. Imitation is dated. Embodiment is fresh is how I feel. Bidipta is wonderful. Suprobhat also adds great flare and silent humour to his version of KK Mahajan.
The film thrives on the chaos of human confusion and the songs by Neel Dutt and Anjanda bring relief within the chaos. One of my favourite scenes in the film is when Mrinal Sen tells a young Anjan if he had told him about what Chaplin said to him and Anjan replies, ‘Yes' at least four times. The genius in this scene is that we all know a stalwart like Mrinal Sen mingled with people like Chaplin, Godard and De Palma. But Anjanda instead of gloating about his globe-trotting mentor decided to make fun of his nature of being repetitive. A major part of this film is a master class in editing. Arghakamal Mitra is truly at his best where he balances the chaos with the humour and emotion and freeze frames seamlessly.
To me Chaalchitra Ekhon is one of the nicest films I’ve seen in India in the last few years. It’s funny, it’s emotional and wanting to move forward. It is a story about a young man looking for an anchor in his life and yet the film doesn’t pause to preach its emotions in high doses. In a world of online trolling and nonsensical hate, I honestly started hating Calcutta. But after watching the film with a grin on my face and teardrops rolling down, I guess I must say I love Calcutta no matter what.
For those who love Mrinal Sen’s work, this is a definite must-see. For those who are looking to find a sense of positivity in a bleak world, I can assure you this film is a great medicine for mental health. Loads of respect to team Hoichoi and SVF for taking responsibility for such a sensitive film and helping it reach out to people. In 28 years they still run after their passion for cinema. Brownie points for that. Anjanda what can I say – 20 years later you still give me a reason to want to stay young and not give up on life. I guess that is the true understanding of Mrinal Sen. If you are confused it means you must be hopeful.
