debanjan-bagchi

The film is about filmmaker Abhiroop Sen(Rituparno Ghosh) and his bisexual photographer Basudeb (Indraneil Sengupta).They are from Delhi, into a homosexual relationship & come to Kolkata to make a film on Chapal Bhaduri,the theater & 'jatra'(popular folk-theater) artists who was a master of playing female characters in his golden days,when females were not allowed from Bengali families to join theater.In reality he is homosexual,from his very earlier stage of childhood he realized his female soul in a male body.The film tells us his sad story of his life- how he was never understood by his surroundings, how everyone deserted him, how his beloved ones bulldozed his feelings throughout his life & how he spent his life for those who ditched him. While doing the film Rituparno relates Chapal with himself. He plays dual role in this movie. As a director & Chapal Bhaduri's youth role. When their life story intersects -they realize the cruelty towards homosexuals.Chapal features as himself in the movie.He is one of the very less known, great actors of Bengali cinema. The famous director Rituparno Ghosh, delivers one of the best performance ever in Bengali language film.The film has a very good script,camera work, direction & acting team. It has portrayed tender touches for human relations with vivid & minute details. Though it was made focusing on homosexual audience but it has won heart of millions throughout the globe.

Nayak is one of the most unique, underrated, & comparatively less known Ray movies. Where a lady reporter (Aditi, played by Sharmila Tagore) discovers the undisclosed & vulnerable life of a legendary film hero in the hands of his industry, fans & his success, during a train journey. Satayjit Ray has used allegory through train (viz. Pather Panchali, Aranyer Din Ratri) several times in his movies. This journey eventually takes place from east to west, that was the direction world civilization used to move at that point in time, best work is most appreciated & sun, still sets today. After introduction with the journalist the hero looks back at his past from the peak of his career (like the afternoon sun) to recollect phases & people in his life (like rising of the sun). With his larger than life profile, magical smile, mesmerizing voice, killer looks - he soon becomes a very lonely & ordinary man to us. The fans of 'Arindam'(The protagonist played by Uttam Kumar), like whom all other men wanted to be, even becomes sympathetic to him.

Several characters makes a nice collage in the film. The script so amazing that one can hardly dare to take a break during this 120 minutes. The dreams shots are at par with the best same kind shots of Luis Bunuel & Ingmar Bergman. Editing, background music & sets are also magnificent. The light & shadow has been used to portray good-bad, past-present in a shot as good as never before in Indian panorama when 'Arindam'(protagonist) meets 'Mukundo Lahiri'(his past rival) after his success. Human emotion, greed, ambition, selfishness, simplicity has been portrayed with delicacy & satire. Ray was the maestro in extracting the best performance of an actor. Hence acting quality of all actors was splendid & Uttam Kumar, the Bengali film legendary romantic hero, delivered the performance of his life keeping the everlasting discussion-topic how underutilized he was by all other directors of his time!