An educated, Kolkata-bred girl falls in love with a man who has his ancestral roots in rural Bengal. She decides to relocate to the husband’s ancestral village house, coming to the choice based on her own goodwill. It is where she senses life differently, how there is “obhaab” (lacking) so palpable in the underprivileged community. Steadily, she opens up to their world with open arms. Even if one hasn’t seen Alo, chances are high that one has heard of its name in Bengal. Somehow, the image of its leading lady Rituparna Sengupta instantly comes to mind. As Alo, the Bengali actress emerged as an indelible screen presence.
A screen adaptation of Bibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay’s Kinnardal, Tarun Majumdar’s Alo released in 2003 to massive commercial success. It played in the single-screen cinema halls for eight months. Majumdar’s cinema was constantly redefining the shifting dynamics in consumerism and art and Alo is one of his most remembered works, and perhaps the closest he has come to establish his own brand of idealised communities. With his trademark multiple starrers, where he would cast some of the most well- known faces and place them in a different dilemma of everyday-ness, Alo strives far away from the cheesy romances that Bengali commercial cinema was obsessed with.
In case of Alo, Majumdar places the intermission straight after our titular character decides to stay on her own at her husband Subhankar’s (Kunal Mitra) ancestral village house. The first half mostly follows her slowly falling for him — not for his masculinity, but for his sense of commitment and duty.
Subho has been manipulated into teaching Alo and her three sisters by Binu (Abhishek Chatterjee) and he takes it up duly. Alo sees in him a man who is deeply responsible and accountable in his actions. Majumdar does not break into impromptu dance numbers with colourful costumes to mark that growth. Instead, he brilliantly uses Rabindrasangeet as a means of communication and desire. It is never subtle but works wonders with the frankness of revealing.
It is only in the second half when we see Alo moving to the village. Majumdar does not even show the marriage, or makes room for the relationship between the newly wed to build much. He makes way for the female protagonist to create space for herself in a new place, away from her comfort. Here, devoid of the constant presence of her sisters and father, she makes her own choices. Open to meeting the village folks, she extends a warm welcome by distributing sweets to the women. Surrounded by grief, anger and hunger, the women of the village never leave her. Her domestic help warns of this weakness — of showing that she has enough, indirectly by never saying no to anyone. But Alo sticks to her values. She is a Godly figure, devoid of anger or passion, her charm an urgent reminder to be open to possibilities.
Majumdar places in her an idealism that slowly becomes the guiding light of the village community. Although it is always only the women who show up and learn to exist with a different mindset. The men stay afar, whiling away their time smoking pot. One of the girls, Shanti, is rejected in a marriage alliance for her lack of knowledge in English, but she is guided by Alo to learn. She swiftly learns and this time around, gets married She swiftly learns and this time around, gets married. Yet she is abused and ultimately returns to the village. There is no mention of the man again. No repercussions. In Alo, these women see an ideal homemaker, who not only takes care of the house, but also makes time to sing Rabindrasangeet and play instruments. But there’s no such ideal for the men... perhaps Alo is not meant to be or is it Subho, a city dweller who leaves her newly wed wife alone in the village, not the ideal prototype? The call is yours.
Slight apprehensions aside, Alo is a film about the concept of family, of a particular kind of romance with the land and the immediacy of that feeling. In the hands of Majumdar, the family does not have to be biologically categorised, or found only within the same house. It can be a family that opens up to strangers and accepts differences. A family where the women come together and share their lives, acting as foster parents to each other in the process.