Robibaar

A romantic relationship film.The film has wonderful story line and the camera languidly follows the characters throughout the film. It's a wonderful movie in recent time.Their narrative is not unusual either.Though the film is character-driven, it is not filled with dialogues.

When oversimplification has become the trend, the director here chooses not to spell it all out. Neither does he indulge in any kind of sentimentality at the meeting of the lovers fifteen years later; rather, he leaves the narrative open, and time and again breaks it to provide a new insight into the relationship.The tangent the film takes with these digressions threw me off till I realized the grander design of the director. Liked the deviation from routine. Quite a novel format for a Bangla film I presume. Wonder if it would find much takers among the soap addicted audience. But if someone tends to have some patience, he would be richly rewarded.

The beauty of this film is the unconventional narrative and the changing perspective of its setting. Usually, a traditional reunion would take place over social occasion, business meets, or even an accident. This reunion becomes engaging all the more because it moves from one scenario to another, each locale interesting for its characteristics. The trickster has run out of tricks and luck, with no hope for tomorrow. Given its wafer thin story line, the faith of this film purely hinged on the nature of the conversations, and the performance of its cast. It's here that the director is blessed to have Prosenjit Chatterjee and Jaya Ahsan who are almost flawless in the portrayal of their layered characters. While both Asimabha and Sayani evoke a sense of frustration, but you don't want to be judgmental about them. Morality would abhor them, particularly Asimabha, but their imperfections also brings them acceptability. Chatterjee is exemplary in his portrayal of the sullen, despondent man. The litany of cases has clearly dragged the once self-styled magical trickster down. He's sinned a lot, but there still is an honest streak in him. That is seen from his kind gesture in adopting a street urchin. It's quite an evocative film, with abundance of subtext allowing the viewer to build his or her interpretations and it is this aspect which makes it rather niche. It's certainly not for those who want films to be ready to digest material. Infact, they might find this film to be quite a nuisance. But of you spend on concentration and sensitivity, it is quite a remarkable watch.

Robibaar (On A Sunday, on Hoichoi) - Sayani (Jaya Ahsan) is a legal affairs manager of an MNC and is simultaneously working on publishing her own book. On a lazy Sunday morning, she heads to a coffee shop for breakfast where she has a chance meeting with Asimabha (Prasenjit Chatterjee), her beau from 15 years ago. Or is it?

What follows is a dribble between their past life and experiences and their present, through which we learn that Asimabha is a brilliant individual with devious motives. He has led a life of con, has none to go back to, law is hotly chasing him and he has paid money to a hitman to murder him as suicide isn't something that he has the courage to do. But somewhere in his heart he is repentant and thinks that he can redeem himself by rescuing a street urchin. Now Asimabha and Sayani can use each other for mutual benefit, perhaps.

If the writer-director Atanu Ghosh thought that this is content enough and will engage the viewers, he got it all wrong. The story, if you can call it that, refuses to take off. It whines and grates, unable to lift it's own weight and crawls forward like a sloth, testing our patience. You keep waiting expectantly for something dramatic to happen or a twist in the story, but alas there isn't any. With just two characters around it also becomes quite monotonous to listen to their inane humming. Actually, not much emotive skills are on display here as there isn't much demand for it. Of course there isn't much chemistry between them too as they separated 15 years ago - really?

They met after fifteen years and for a moment, the audience is swept by a strong whiff of the passion that has survived over the years. The Man dressed in black kurta is suave and presumptuous. The Lady is a trifle unsure but feels drawn to the familiar air of unsolved mystery that is quintessentially him. Her glance is a mixture of loathing, disgust and withered love.

She feels bound to stay back when he is desperate and earnest. Added to this is the intoxicating thought of wringing from him a kind of confession, not a desperate attempt to make him suffer but more of a selfish idea of using his story to be used as an ingredient in a research book penned by her.

The narrative is not a linear progression of events but more of a magnification of feelings,of what happens on a Sunday. An intense study of a relationship gone dry and dead, yet quickened to life by the random stirring caused by a chance meeting and interaction.



Sunday is a day to relax and unwind but it is also a day when official work is usually kept on hold. What happens when more and more days of life resemble a Sunday? What happens when it is hard to remember the extraordinary significance of a Sunday?

In the end, it is like a long, winding conversation between two people.The course of future rests on their hands. The past has left its irrevocable stamp. You can smell yesterday. But it cannot be stitched back seamlessly. The crack remains to taunt. Tears of regret or a deal to be made, it is essentially their choice.