The Adversary

Pratidwandi - a film that aptly captures the ennui and angst of the educated middle class Bengali youth during the tumultuous Naxal-ridden period of 60's Calcutta. Fraught with a desire to DO something, Siddharto is however jobless and dreams about actually doing something of significance. But his middle-class upbringing stops him at every step. Caught in a web of his own upbringing, his need to get a day job to pay the bills, and his own morality, he is unwilling to step out of his comfort zone and take a risk. This leads his friend to taunt him that he is a "thinker" and not a "doer" - when he refuses to indulge in drinking or casual sex. But, Siddharto, in his actions and thoughts, will perhaps strike you as almost dilettante-ish, perhaps even cavalier in his thoughts about a "revolution" and in his dreams about a "better world" without ever leaving Calcutta. How this attitude slowly reaches a boiling point and tips over, when he lashes out at the so-called "babu" class, is striking in the climactic final moments of the film. A masterpiece by Satyajit Ray, this film is a parable of sorts and can be related to even today.

They call this as the first one of the famous "Calcutta Youth Choir/Series". Movie is great and, again based on a super-topical short story of Sunil Gangopadhyay and slithers into the life of a young man and his pursuit of a career which is actually not what he is looking for but leads him to what he was longing for a while - and its death in parallel. Poetic enough?! It should be because the writer has been a bard of the voice of youth in bengal for at least 3-4 decades. Outside critics recognised this as an unapologetically communist themed, and yes it is. I do not personally like this, but I really recommend a little homework before judging this piece, or maybe, the entire series. Not related to its review, but Mrinal Sen, too, has a "Calcutta Series". And speaking about Mrinal Sen, this movie even shows a dream sequence featuring the young, prince-like Debraj Roy as Che Guevara.

" The competitor or Pratidwandi was set up in a time of political turmoil in Bengal where a medicine drop out Siddhartha is looking out desperately for a job. Siddhartha had to leave his medicine study due to the sudden death of his father and ended up studying botany hence. The film moves through Kolkata with the eyes of Sidhartha mainly as an unemployed youth. The film marks the start of the famous Kolkata trilogy film series from Ray and went into history for winning President's award for best direction and screenplay and to be featured in 1972 Venice film festival.

Ray used techniques that was years ahead of its time with common metaphor as below – 1. Death – The film starts with a x-ray filming scene of Sidhartha's father's death and ends with the same metaphor of death when Sidhartha finally lands up a sales job in remote Bengal and hears the long lost bird's whistle from his childhood days just to be comprehended by the echoing voice of "Ram Nam sath hai". Death stars and ends the film.

2. Lost bird – Sidhartha's recollects the bird that his sister was so fond of during their childhood vacation. Sidhartha never finds the same old known bird in Kolkata. He even ventures new market which is famous for hosting all materials from the world. But even new market disappoints him. He spots the bird finally in rural Bengal (balurghat) in his new medical sales job. But this time the sound of the known bird is in resonance with the rhymes of a dead man being carried away. May be this concept of the lost innocence has inspired modern bengali rock bands to compose songs with birds as themes for lost innocence. This is indeed remarkable as a metaphor for lost innocence and a human changing with age and circumstances.

3. Flash backs – Sidhartha flashbacks to his medical college days often in the film and these college flashbacks as medical lectures are used to connect the story as he unfolds his struggling days in Kolkata. The most eminent is the sexual metaphor of a young modern lady crossing park street.

The script was based on the story of Sunil Gangapadhya and the film moves very fast from the interview panel to Sidhartha's old friends mess to his old home. Sidhartha's inability to cope up with his ambitious sister (on merit or with her affair with her boss is unknown) or his revolutionary cousin makes up an interesting contrast to his character. Sidhartha's refusal for a sexual act which his friend sponsors speaks of his resilience and strength of character. Sidhartha also regrets probably gifting his brother the book from Che Guevara in his teenage birthday as his brother might have initiated his views on revolution from that gifted book. The only support that Sidhartha get is that from a door next girl who ultimately becomes his friend and may be his love interest eventually.

I personally think that Sidhartha's character is one of the three shades that Ray used in Calcutta trilogy as below – a) Sidhartha being the job hunter who finally compromises and leaves Calcutta. This character is by far the white shade in trilogy.

b) The character of Somanth in the second trilogy "Middleman -"Jana aranya " who as a job hunter too leaves the hunt and becomes a businessman himself just to end up hiring his best friend's sister as an escort for sales favors. Somnath is the innocent looking gray shade in trilogy.

c) The character of Shymal in the film "Company limited - Seemabaddha" who finds epitome of success in corporate life through smart work ends up self accused, although he makes to the coveted post of a general manager. Shymal is definitely darker of the other two shades if not a black.

Overall, a brilliant film and needs utmost attention when you see it. If you have struggled in a job search then this film will grip you more. Hope you all like this analysis as I pen up for the next two series on Middleman ("Jana aranya") and company limited ("Seemabaddha").

Not having known much about what to expect, I was taken for quite a surprise with the Calcutta Trilogy. With a constantly bleak environment in each film, this series educates about the conditions of that era. Out of the three, this seems to be the happiest, and that should tell you much about the other movies.

This movie is filled with very subtle metaphors and fantastic direction. The story quickly reels you in and the audience would automatically start to root for the protagonist. There is one scene, where the protagonist, previously educated in medicine, hallucinates all the people he finds applying for a particular job position as skeletons. This was a fantastic scene and the framing must have been quite cumbersome, but it really drives in the point.

One other thing that really won me over was the last scene, which was incredibly poignant- a mention about the death of dreams, and the circular nature of life. So many wonderful moments in the movie, but these two struck me the most.

Dhritiman Chatterjee's acting was remarkable and he really delivered quite a performance. He really makes the audience root for him and quickly develops a connection with the viewer. The supporting cast were also fairly good in their roles, although they didn't really have a lot of screen-time, considering this movie was completely from the protagonist's point of view. Overall, this was a really symbolic movie with not-so bleak an ending.

" The competitor or Pratidwandi was set up in a time of political turmoil in Bengal where a medicine drop out Siddhartha is looking out desperately for a job. Siddhartha had to leave his medicine study due to the sudden death of his father and ended up studying botany hence. The film moves through Kolkata with the eyes of Sidhartha mainly as an unemployed youth. The film marks the start of the famous Kolkata trilogy film series from Ray and went into history for winning President's award for best direction and screenplay and to be featured in 1972 Venice film festival. Ray used techniques that was years ahead of its time with common metaphor as below –

1. Death – The film starts with a x-ray filming scene of Sidhartha's father's death and ends with the same metaphor of death when Sidhartha finally lands up a sales job in remote Bengal and hears the long lost bird's whistle from his childhood days just to be comprehended by the echoing voice of "Ram Nam sath hai". Death stars and ends the film.

2. Lost bird – Sidhartha's recollects the bird that his sister was so fond of during their childhood vacation. Sidhartha never finds the same old known bird in Kolkata. He even ventures new market which is famous for hosting all materials from the world. But even new market disappoints him. He spots the bird finally in rural Bengal (Balurghat) in his new medical sales job. But this time the sound of the known bird is in resonance with the rhymes of a dead man being carried away. May be this concept of the lost innocence has inspired modern bengali bands to compose songs as "Holud pakhi". This is indeed remarkable as a metaphor for lost innocence and a human changing with age and circumstances.

3. Flash backs – Sidhartha flashbacks in his medical college days often in the film and these college flashbacks as medical lectures are used to connect the story as he unfolds his struggling days in Kolkata. The most eminent is the sexual metaphor of a young modern lady crossing park street.

The script was based on the story of Sunil Gangapadhya and the film moves very fast from the interview panel to Sidhartha's old friends mess to his old home. Sidhartha's inability to cope up with his ambitious sister (on merit or with her affair with her boss is unknown) or his revolutionary cousin makes up an interesting contrast to his character. Sidhartha's refusal for a sexual act which his friend sponsors speaks of his resilience and strength of character. Sidhartha also regrets probably gifting his brother the book from Che Guevara in his teenage birthday as his brother might have initiated his views on revolution from that gifted book. The only support that Sidhartha get is that from a door next girl who ultimately becomes his friend and may be his love interest eventually.

Sidhartha character is one of the three shades that Ray used in Calcutta trilogy as below – a) Sidhartha being the job hunter who finally compromises and leaves Calcutta. This character is by far the white shade in trilogy.

b) The character of Somanth in the second trilogy "Middleman -"Jana aranya " who as a job hunter too leaves the hunt and becomes a businessman himself just to end up hiring his best friend's sister as an escort for sales favors. Somnath is the innocent looking grey shade in trilogy.

c) The character of Shymal in the film "Company limited - Seemabaddha" who finds epitome of success in corporate life through smart work ends up self accused, although he makes to the coveted post of a general manager. Shymal is definitely darker of the other two shades if not a black.

Overall, a brilliant film and needs utmost attention when you see it. If you have struggled in a job search then this film will grip you more. Hope you all like this analysis as I pen up for the next two series on Middleman ("Jana aranya") and company limited ("Seemabaddha"). Your comments and views most welcome on the work of the genius !!