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Indradip Dasgupta's fifth feature film as a director is marketed as a tribute to the body of work of filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh. The plot points, characters, the chamber drama setup revolving around a woman soaked in melancholy quiet evidently tries to honor the auteur's legacy.

The first thing which hinders the film from being a proper fitting to the legacy of Rituparno's work is the absence of nuance, the complex but intrusive characterization. The film deals with the melancholy of woman left alone after marriage, which invites an ideal premise to explore grief and longing, but we are served with just dialogues, with which the primary exposition of the characters are conveyed to the audience. The dialogues reveal quiet bluntly the emotional state of the characters within the first half of the film which is unexpected and disappointing from a film paying tribute to the auteur.

The rich visual aesthetics shows promise throughout, as Pradip Mukherjee shoots with an unparallel lyricism. The house becomes a character, an undeniable silent witness to the boiling sense of loneliness each and every character is suffering from. The walls, the murals, preparation for the upcoming Durga Puja everything looks heavenly and sometimes eclipses the lack of subtleness in other departments.

The film also captures Subhasree Ganguly (Titli, the lead protagonist) at her finest, be it the close ups, or be the silent moments where she is conveying through eyes only. She tries her best to articulate the most complex nuances which the script fails to churn out anywhere. With a sense of duty towards his in-laws , there is a certain realization in her character, that it is not only her suffering from loss but also her in-laws where someone has lost a son and someone a brother, she overcomes self-pity and with grace as she accepts the responsibility. All of this information although spoon fed to the audience, Subhasree still manages to bring a sense of genuineness to her portrayal.

The role of Meghdoot (Jeetu Kamal) is also mishandled. There are different shades which his character has but it is always shown from the perspective of the protagonist, we never get to feel for his longings, desires which was very much needed to where the film was headed especially at the climactic revelation. Owing to the sensible agenda, the film tries to convey, it is quite disappointing how it's dealt with.

The subplot with Rudranil Ghosh also gets lost into thin air after a certain point, which although was very generic could have been given a better closure, we are never shown his arc except one scene with Sohini Sengupta (her maternal aunt). It is quiet suprising to see an actor like Rudranil Ghosh being wasted into a half-baked character. The veterans (Sohini Sengupta,Kaushik Ganguly) stay true to their role and performs according to their skillset and amplifies the emotional subtext.

Jeetu Kamal looks graceful too, although not given much of a depth as his character demands for, there is a certain charm in his performance. There is a a scene which announces his arrival in the life of Titli(Subhasree),where the sudden gust of wind dismantles the alleys of Kolkata ,and there is a drone shot which shows his car advancing to Titli's home as a guest. It is very well made and a nod to the name his character has, 'Meghdoot' (which means rain, or one who sends message through clouds). The character also has a message to deliver, over all it is quite impressive how it plays with the name.

Indradip Dasgupta(director)is also a known music director, so he uses music as an instrument of storytelling in his films, but here the songs and the music both seems overburdened ,it doesn't add anything worth to the film.

The film running at a length of more than 2 and a half hours feels very much outstretched with redundant characters, unresolved subplots and an unnecessary cameo at the end which makes no sense.

It is a frustrating watch specifically for the premise it sets up, the potential it had with the characters .It is evident though,that Indardip Dasgupta has tried to invoke a sense of suppressed emotions ,but ends up doing a one dimensional narrative which never really hits the right spot despite Subhasree giving a superlative performance.

At one point in the film, the character of Indranil Sengupta advises his wife (Rituparna) to let her mom live in her past, which, although a result of her dementia, is an escape from the rapidly changing world. It seems like a preach, an advice from him, but as the characters unfold, we slowly understand why such is the reason for such a bit of unusual advice.

The film revolves around a sparse set of characters and their relationship with significant memories. The title of the movie "Puratawn (or the ancient)" is an ode to every character who is either trying to get over their past or clinging to it. An ancient mansion where time had gnawed at its once-pristine walls, leaving behind a tapestry of cracks and peeling paint that whispered of forgotten days, acts as a metaphor for the old lady residing there, who is consistently going back to her past unconsciously. The concept of time space never seems to find its right path there, it moves like a calm river flowing around the house.

As the octogenarian lady (Sharmila Tagore) dwells in her world, her estranged daughter and son-in-law come to celebrate her birthday. They were both somewhat puzzled by the world the serene mansion presents around them, and it seemed confusing and made them ponder. As their real-world scenarios converge with the world of the mansion, it creates chaos, quite naturally. But still, the characters slowly blend in, as the overwhelming attraction of the past engulfs them.

Suman Ghosh(director) shows restraint in how the characters behave in the film, the storyline taking a backseat, giving precedence to the silence, the lyricism of memories, the nuances of a failing relationship with delicately paced scene transitions(another feature to the cap of Aditya Vikram Sengupta, chief editor of the film). That being said, although the primary focus of the film was Sharmila Tagore's character, it doesn't delve too deeply into flashbacks, which kind of is off-putting for a mainstream audience to sympathize with her.

The film, although scores on silence, its muted frames, and melancholic music, but what hinders the film from becoming a superior poetic narrative is the dialogue. The dialogues, most of the time, come out as very much prosaic, deferring to the lyricism of the plot.

Ravi Kiran Ayyagiri's frames act as a visual comfort; the way he captures the mansion, the ruins is thoroughly remarkable. Alokananda Dasgupta's music is another driving point of the film, which enriches the aesthetic capabilities of the poetic lyricism in the narrative.

In the performances, Rituparna Sengupta (who is also the producer of the film) has done a decent job; she flourishes in a few scenes, but we have seen better from her. It is maybe due to the issue with the dialogues I have already mentioned. Indranil Sengupta is quite a surprise in his role here, he beautifully embraces his character of a wildlife photographer with a past he is struggling to get over. After a long time, the actor in Indranil comes forth.

Brishti Roy as the fast-talking housemaid is also quite remarkable in some scenes, but the character is not properly fleshed out, and neither is her relationship with her employer.

Sharmila Tagore is brilliant, it's nearly 7 decades she has been working as an actress, with the same amount of grace and exuberance. She is a treat to the eyes, as she performs with the same amount of ingenuity she is known for.

Although I feel, more focus should have been given to her character on the medical side, as a patient suffering from dementia, the haplessness, vulnerability should have been more brought to focus.

The film presents a poignant connection between past and present, times and memories intertwined. It is also a tale of aging, a feeling of fading away in remembrance.

The film, termed to be Sharmila's last acting job, is somewhat an appropriate farewell to her body of work.

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