Unishe April

Almost being a good translation of 'Autumn Sonata' by Ingmar Bergman, it gave the space and gateway to Ghosh and really set the mood in front of audiences about what Ghosh is going to make in the coming years. People say that 90's was the darkest time for indian cinema - not only bollywood, but regional ones too - and art filmmakers from every state was trying their hard to make experimental films more communicable and big budgeted movies with more vocal camera, art and editing. Unishe April was one of those torch bearers. Entirely shot in indoor sets, its script give the actors enough screen time and more than enough dialogues. And the actors, mainly the leads - Debashree Roy and Aparna Sen - filled those sets with their acting skills. This style was much unique then and stayed with Ghosh until he moved to the new, more expressive storytelling.

It's a movie which shows how little resource is needed to make a good movie. Almost the whole movie happens in a house. With only a few actors (only three prominent). It shows the capability of a talented writter and director "Rituporno Ghosh".

Sarojini(Aparna Sen) is a famous dancer whose profound dedication to the dance-floor causes the widening of a cleavage between her daughter and herself following death of her husband. Is she happy with her career and success? Has she found a substitute in the character of Dipankar De?

Aditi(Deboshree Roy) is a young doctor making all possible preparations to build a home away from her celebrity dancer-mother. She is convinced that Sarojini has forgotten all about her father since he died about 20 years ago. Correct isn't she? In this world her mother is wrong and her father was wronged. Will this ICE ever break? The film starts in the morning and ends the following morning.The film starts on 19th April. 19th April- the day when Aditi's father and Sarojini's husband died.

UNISHE APRIL marked the arrival of Rituparno Ghosh as a major filmmaker. Though it was his second film, it catapulted him into prominence winning quite a few National Awards in its wake. The strong point of UA is its performances - Aparna Sen and Debasree Roy act superbly in this mother- daughter tale of a missing bond between them. The film is inspired by Bergman's AUTUMN SONATA.

The weakness of the film lies in part on the script - it is a bit strange to hear that when Aditi (Debasree Roy) is in deep love with a Delhi based boy (Prasenjit) and their relationship was on for quite some time yet the fact that Aditi's mother is a Nationally renowned dancer is unknown to her paramour. The harping on suicide as a release from inner turmoil and the outside storm sequence during the night symbolising the inner turmoil of Aditi appear rather clichéd (even Satyajit Ray did this in CHARULATA towards the climax) . The supporting cast includes Dipankar Dey, Boddiswata Mazumdar and others.

The story and screenplay of the film is credited to Rituparno Ghosh.

Rating: 3.9 out of 5

Unishe April (1994): Brief Review -

Huge fan of Autumn Sonata (1978), but this wasn't close. Rituparno Ghosh-what a genius filmmaker, and I have no second thoughts about it. This was just his second film, yet he impressed so many critics as well as the National Award juries. If someone called him India's Ingmar Bergman, then I wouldn't have minded, because he came so close to cracking similar themes of storytelling. Autumn Sonata, one of Bergman's last films, was a conversational classic and carried a very experimental narrative for its time. It explored strained relationships through complex theories, leaving viewers stunned with the director's vision. Ghosh's Unishe April is a sort of remake of that film, with of course a few changes suiting Indian traditions and social norms. Unlike Bergman's flick, which had several other supporting characters playing pivotal roles in the narrative, Unishe April mainly focuses on the mother-daughter's strained relationship and scattered bond. It becomes too personal and lacks an intricate structure in its narrative, thereby distancing itself from the Swedish film. That's actually the major issue, because you have nothing else to support the storyline. It gets stuck at one point and takes longer than expected to reach the final confrontation. Many sobbing and frustration scenes are stretched up to two minutes or so, making it unnecessarily lengthy and slow. On the positive side, we have some power-packed performances by Aparna Sen and Debashree Roy. Both are simply outstanding-their expressions and conversations are brilliant and unforgettable. The supporting cast is fine too, and the technical aspects fit well in their places. Rituparno Ghosh's film works as a whole, but it's just that the hype around it was too much, and I found it underwhelming in comparison.

RATING - 6/10*

By - #samthebestest.