I have never been a fan of the typical romantic family dramas churned out by Tollywood in the old times. As a result, this film comes as a welcome change.
Based on Ashapurna Debi's 'Nurse Mitra', this story of a nurse endowed with the responsibility of curing people who have been rendered heart-broken in love, is a very fresh and novel concept. Suchitra Sen does full justice to the character and carries the entire film on her shoulders alone. But Basanta Chowdhury as the mentally disturbed patient is not fully convincing (Rajesh Khanna was far better in the Hindi remake 'Khamoshi'). In fact it's Pahari Sanyal who emerges as the main lead hero of the film. His descriptions of the psychological buildup of a mental patient were quite enlightening. Tulsi Chakraborty is hilarious in his cameo. But Anil Chatterjee is wasted in a minor appearance who inexplicably vanishes completely in the 2nd half.
The music by Hemanta Mukherjee is simply out of the world! Besides a haunting theme track, the film boasts of one of the most romantic songs ever filmed in Indian cinema: 'Ei Raat Tomar Aamar'. With the singer standing with his back to the camera and gazing at a moonlit star- filled sky; it creates one of the most charming cinematic impact ever experienced by me. Be it the tune, setting, instruments, voice, lyrics or expressions; the two and half minutes of the song are a cut above the rest of the film and is easily the highlight of the movie!
But the film tends to drag and get monotonous towards the end. The climax twist appears to be a bit too sudden. As I had seen the Hindi- version 'Khamoshi' before, it gave a sense of predictability to the plot. But still, this is certainly not at the level of Asit Sen's 'Uttor Falguni'. Although if one is simply a fan of acting, then Mrs. Sen won't give any chance for complaints. But unfortunately, a more eventful script was needed to prevent it from being just a one-time watch...
