Based on a story by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, the movie revolves around love and sacrifices based on some mistaken identities. The film also juxtaposes the situation of two young women, one educated and progressive while the other steeped in traditions and some of the evils that comes with it.
Lawyer Ramesh is in love with his friend's sister, Hemnalini (henceforth referred to as Hem) and the love is reciprocated. The young lover's have a mutual understanding to get married. Hem herself is a highly educated young woman with a deep love for music, coming from a progressive family where she is her father's favourite and has his full approval in choosing her own partner. Her father, in fact, is in full support of whatever she wants to do. Ramesh's family lives in a small village in Bengal and he has come to Calcutta to pursue his education. However, his life is disrupted abruptly as he's called back home only to be told that he is to marry a girl of his father's choice. This girl is uneducated and very traditional. Though Ramesh refuses this match at first, even in the face of his his father threatening to disinherit him, he eventually relents when he sees the plight of the widowed mother of the intended bride, who claims she will have to poison herself and her daughter if the marriage doesn't take place. Like a traditional match of that era, neither the bride or the groom has set eyes on each other and neither do they see each other's face during the ceremony as her sari is pulled low over her face. Immediately after the marriage, the young couple sets sail for Calcutta. But on the way they are hit by a tempest which causes the boat to capsize. The next thing Ramesh knows, he has been washed ashore. And some distance away he sees the unconscious form of a new bride. The young married couple make their way to Calcutta and in the meanwhile Ramesh is incapable of telling the truth about his marriage to Hem, who is distraught at his sudden disappearance from her life. However, within a very few days, it becomes apparent that the young bride he rescued, Kamala, is not his bride but of another man travelling on the same day after his marriage. Relieved that he's not married anymore, he renews his proposal to Hem while continuing to search for Kamala's real husband. He doesn't tell either of the woman of the truth since he's afraid Hem may break the engagement if she finds out and Kamala will be devastated to know she is living under the roof of another man who is not her husband. Things, however, come to a standstill when Hem finds out about Ramesh's "bride" from a jealous suitor and she breaks off her engagement. Ramesh is forced to relocate to Gorakhpur with Kamala to avoid the scandal, whereas Hem goes to Varanasi to recuperate from her broken heart with her father. In Varanasi, Hem meets Nalinaksha (henceforth referred to as Nalin) and both find a common ground through music and finally become engaged to each other. However, Nalin is the real husband of Kamala but thinks his wife to be dead in the storm. In the meanwhile, Kamala finds out the truth behind her situation through an advertisement and leaves home to commit suicide but ends up in Varanasi. Finally Ramesh, guiltridden as he holds himself responsible for Kamala's suicide also heads to Varanasi to find peace. And it is here that the 4 characters come together in a climax where love and social norms clash and each individual's destiny gets linked to the other.
This film, in its periodicity, is very authentic in the set design, art direction and costumes. Where Hem wears fashionable saris with long sleeved, high neck blouses as was the fashion of that era, Kamala wears her simple cotton saris worn by any rural woman of those days. Both the men, Ramesh and Nalin, are also suitably dressed according to the times. Also, keeping with the age of the story, the dialogues are written in classical bengali. The outdoor locations of Varanasi are also created to recreate the period. The sets themselves, though highly accurate, however are not highly glamorous or spell binding, even Hem's house, who is well to do, is competent but not spectacular or memorable. Maybe the director should take a leaf out of Sanjay Leela Bansali's movies.
The music of the film also deserves a special mention with the use of Rabindrasangeet quite perfectly to depict the different moods of each character.
To carry off a film of this magnitude another important requirement is good acting, which the director Rituporno Sen extracts from each actor. Jishu as the hapless Ramesh struck in his dilemma is very convincing and his soft and controlled dialogue delivery further enhances the performance. And might I add, he looks very handsome as the central character. Raima Sen plays the educated Hem to perfection. She looks divine and is very convincing as the progressive girl. Prosenjit as Nalin is also good. Specially his dialogue delivery is extremely romantic. However, his age has begun to show (he is significantly older than the other 3 actors) and sometimes looks too old to be either the love interest of Hem or the husband of Kamala. But it is Riya Sen, as Kamala, who is the true find of the film. Always known for her glamorous avatar, she is completely stripped of all that glitter to play a rustic, uneducated village girl, which she does with panache with her stilted speech and her innocence. A special mention must be made of Dhritiman Chatterjee as Hem's father, the doting and understanding father who stands by every decision of his daughter and supports her against everyone.
This film brings forward the conflict of progressiveness and established social norms very effectively, especially through Kamala and Hem's character. Where Hem is educated and knows music, Kamala is uneducated. However, Kamala knows how to keep a house by cooking, washing, cleaning,etc., qualities deemed necessary in wives of that period. However, Hem is totally incapable of such household chores. As Nalin comments to his mother, Hem is good to sit with her feet up and order around the household. Hem has full independence to choose her match and even when her brother tries to force her to marry after her engagement with Ramesh breaks down, her father stands by her and asks her to do only what she wants and not what others want of her. Even later, Hem has the permission and the courage to call off her engagement to Nalin when she feels she can't do justice to the relationship. On the contrary, Kamala has never had any say in any decision regarding her life. Her marriage was decided by her Uncle and she has had to go ahead without so much as looking at the groom. But once married, she makes it her duty to take over the family and make it her own. And it is this juxtaposition which makes this film such an interesting watch.
The film boasts many visually outstanding scenes, be it Ramesh's proposal to Hem where only their silhouette is visible behind white, lace curtains or Hem going to meet Nalin's mother standing on a boat with her parasol on her head or Hem coming to Ramesh's house for the first time or Kamala's small "nok-jhok" with her "husband" Ramesh. Several scenes are beautiful examples of shadow play, in fact reminding me of my classes of CARTS (Creativity in Arts and Sciences, a course offered in term 4 at IIMB) where the creative elements of shadow and lights are explained. One extraordinary example is a scene where Nalin takes Hem home through dark streets of Varanasi. While initially the background is lighted while their faces appear in shadows, it suddenly changes with the background retreating to shadows and their faces reflecting light making each expression more pronounced.
The film, like period pieces, is a little slow paced and do tend to drag in bits. But never is it boring or make you want to leave, so powerful is the storyline and the screen presence of each character.
When the film ends, it leaves a happy feeling with each rightful couple getting together. Yet I felt a strange sadness at the thought of the separation of Ramesh and Kamala because although it was a loveless relationship, the care and concern each had for the other made for compelling viewing and makes you think that maybe they were right for each other after all. And it is probably this slightly incomplete feeling that takes this movie beyond good. Someone once said to me, you give a movie a happy ending and all the viewers will walk out feeling happy but forget the film soon but if you give the movie a sad ending people will feel incomplete and will not be able to forget the film. And somewhere, though the ending essentially is happy, the tinge of sadness that remains in the film, very vividly brought to life through the acting of Riya Sen and Jishu Sengupta, making it unforgettable.
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