Goynar Baksho- The box of jewels - A much awaited new Aparna Sen movie. The expectations was way too high this time. I had to bring it down a few notches to actually like the movie and talk about it. A story woven around 3 women, a ghost, a lady, and a rebel, on the canvas of dramatic border conflicts, stretched through time and lives of people across the Bengal border. The portrayal of the three women is so well done, it tugs on your heartstrings long after the movie is over. The movie explores these women intimately, their desire, their dreams, their despair, their arty manipulations, myriad shades of feminism. The male characters in their life add to the spice and drama, played with by some great actors.
While, the mortals and the dead had a lot to say and act, the main character in the movie, is still the silent wooden Goynar Baksho holding exquisite gold jewellery weighing nearly 5500 gms, changing hands from generation to generation, one woman to another in the family. As the story unfolded it was losing its materialistic value and transforming to an asset, used for fulfilling it's owner's desires and dreams.
The three women had a choice to use the box of gold for achieving their own purpose in life. The original owner, Pishima (Rashmoni, played by Moushumi Chatterjee),the spiteful , beautiful child widow, living in her paternal household, uses her box to demand respect and generate fear in her kin. Her nephew's wife, Somlata, an ordinary girl from a poor family, uses it to become the breadwinner of the dying zamindar family (landlord). She almost fixed the egotistic men around her, who would rather die of poverty then work to earn a living. And her power comes through, when she does all the changes in her life and her families, without raising her voice or finger. She even wins the heart of Pishima's ghost after much trials and tribulations. She always had her feet on the ground and was truly fearless.
The first half of the movie was intense, funny and immensely likable and I wish the movie ended at intermission and I could have left the theatre with a smile on my face. But the movie took a rather odd abrupt dramatic change in the second half . Although fast paced , it lacked the former's sense of drama and the storytelling eventually fell apart. It become an ordinary movie, with no Sen magic.
Somlata, shared the stage with Pishima in the first half, and matched her expletives with her subtleties, but the director could have given her some time and space in the script, to share her story and her life later. Her subtlety was very well done and it went along with the 50's woman she portrayed, but , her desires could have had some on-screen recognition. Thus, the middle part of the movie felt stifled and stopped short of the greatness it was due for. The hint of romance in Somlata's life was way too subtle. The roses and the poetry passed by like a whiff of smoke leaving no significant impression. The musical piece by Shubha Mudgal faded with the smoke too and the dates changed on the screen bringing to another better part of the movie. The hiatus in the transition could not lift the tempo and it was flat in the overall context of the movie.
During the 70's , as the youngest woman of the family Chaitali (Shrabonti) who could see Pishima's ghost, shares a smoke with the eldest, Pishi Thakuma's apparition(Moushumi Chatterjee) and discusses love, life and politics. In this scene, the movie almost comes back. Chaitali, the young dreamer, a socialist, a rebel at heart, devoid of bourgeois sentiments, comes to possess the box of jewels and she decides to passed it up for the greater cause. Her story and her mother Somlata's story do not mingle on screen and we miss Konkana's act as a mother and the chemistry she shared with her daughter (that would be interesting).
Whatever the storyline, at the end it is Pishima' s who always touches our heart, she moves through time and space effortlessly, (being a ghost did help), her pride in her high class blue blood, love of wealth, self and ego. She slowly accepts the worldly ways afterlife. When with Somlata, she accepts her middle class life and with Chaitali, she learns to let go of all her earthly desires, finding peace at last.
Nice movie ...but
Why the rush in the second half, why this substandard direction and script, why the lack of Aparna Sen's perfect touch. Why she went overboard with her idealistic "love of the moment" concept, which we see in all her movies. A love so pure that it has no ending , no beginning, no future, no physical fulfillment. Just an ache. I love this concept and her way of portraying it. But it did not fit into this movie in a way that it would linger with you, like it did when Raja comes close to Meenakshi in the ending scene of Mr. and Mrs. Iyer. I want that magic again....maybe next time
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