A film that neither followed mainstream formula nor characteristics of regular
Although there is a stream of alternative films worth to mention in Bangladesh, most of them are of common patterns, as only a few directors of this stream came with their own intransigence. Jalal's Story is also an alternative film, as this film is by no mean a usual formula-based mainstream film dealing with regular subjects, points-of-view, and formal elements. But it is also free from the common characteristics of the regular alternatives, thus makes it a real formula-breaker.
The storyline of this film is complex, and formed in three phases, differentiated by three different age-period of Jalal- new-born, pre-teen, and teen Jalal. Although the storyline has been developed centering him, he is rather powerless and inactive and did nothing to control the events surrounding him, rather be controlled by the characters and circumstances. Obviously, those events created some reactions and rages into him, but as he is powerless he hasn't been able to do anything.
The actual central characters who controlled the events are his three eventual fathers, though none of them are genuine, neither any of them are positive in nature. That means there is no active or powerful protagonist in this film, rather all the powerful characters are antagonists. Also none of them, both the protagonists and antagonists are not typical neither traditional. Also, female leads are not like traditional heroines, but they are indeed the heroines, especially the female lead of the third one.
Though the presentation of the stories is pretty much realistic, the stories themselves are not realistic; rather they are based on fantasy, folk, and allegory, and also multi-layered. In the first story, there is a layer overlapping folk and fantasy, and also a layer of mockery against bigotry and fanaticism. The second story deals with fantasy-based folk elements, with sarcasm against conventional customs, taboos, and superstitions. The third story is an allegoric one, where the mockery is targeted to the immoral politicians. And the most important thing is none of them is too complicated to be understood even by the regular audience, though the tone of the narration is very much indifferent, as the main emphasis of the film has been given on story-telling.
Another notable thing is the ending, which brings the audience at the beginning to create a loop. Also, there are some violent scenes, but there was neither a tendency of making them too violent nor to make them sympathetic. Altogether the storyline of this film, the narration, and the presentation- all are very much different from the other mainstream or alternative films of our industry.
Using of dialogue is subtle too, as off-screen dialogue and narration both have been used several times instead of regular dialogue. Lead characters are dialogue-thrifty too. Often dialogues proved entertaining to the audience, as there are some ambiguous dialogues, some of them have delicate and some have a gross indication.
One of the unique characteristics of the subcontinental film is using of the song. Jalal's Story is exceptionally different in that point too; it has absolutely no song. To compensate that absence, background score used all over the film, by the band Chirkut, which is too good to become the most important factor in the sound designing of this film.
Altogether Jalal's Story can be certified as an alternative film, especially for its very much unconventional storyline and other unconventional treatments. Also, it didn't follow the formula or characteristics of regular alternatives. All these make the film a real formula-breaking one.
