Bisorjon Movie Review

I admit I am quite late in watching this immediate classic Kaushik Ganguly made in 2017. I am forever thankful to my friend Madhurima Ghosh Chaudhury for suggesting this movie last year. In recent past  I was never this excited to anticipate a sequel.

By now everybody knows the story. I would rather write on subjects I liked in this movie. Padma(Jaya Ahsan) has proven her subtle gestures speak more than her words. Her vacant wistful gaze enrobed in white saree spoke highly about her desolation in widowhood. The regular shocks she exhibits while meeting her dogged suitor Ganesh(Kaushik Ganguly) portrays her dislike in the way Ganesh is tightening slowly his stranglehold over her. Kaushik Ganguly's character sometimes appear comic, sometime you almost buy his sob story but he portrays so deftly the cunning and impish nature hiding behind his obese frame wearing white always. In fact his moments of villainy make you cringe and hate his character. The greed, the cat and mouse game between him and Padma, the hapless widow was so palpable. I must say I am damn impressed by his acting skills.

Though many expected Naser Ali(Abir Chatterjee) to be in a tumultuous affair with Padma, he showed a rare restraint as expected from a smuggler hiding in another country and longing to come back to his beloved Ayesha. The emotions between him and Padma ranged from gratitude to his saviour to dependence to love and surrender at last. He wanted to go back to his love Ayesha, but he is stranded and guilt ridden. At the same time the bond of trust between the savior and the saved is all powerful in this narrative of unusual cross border love that breaches the barrier of religion also. Naser a.k.a Subhash maintained his restrain almost till the last night when Padma let her hair loose, started drinking and smoking to relive her memories of her departed husband. The consummation of their love by making love in the end expressed Jaya's repressed yearning for a love she has been denied throughout her life by a drunkard husband. That very moment between Naser and Padma melts down all the barriers of borders and religion. The receding frame of Naser on the river as he has been smuggled out by Padma with the complete surrender to the satisfaction of her suitor Ganesh marks both the beginning and ending of relations. The name Bisorjon matches so well with the ending where the woman enters into a new beginning after giving away the love which might have been a possibility but not reality.

The movie has been mostly shot indoors but the human drama keeps you on the edge. The screenplay was taut and some dialogs I shall remember. For example when Naser urges Padma not to change she replies " Padma ei chora pore geche, apnara to jol charen na" referring to water politics India plays with Bangladesh. Then she advises while consummating their love by " Bisorjon er por r fire takio na" to urge him to begin a new life forgetting this chapter.

This movie was swan song of Kalika Prosad whose song " Bondhu tor laiga re" brought tears. I found this movie absorbing and of high standard similar to European,Iranian or Latin American films. Most of Bollywood misses the subtle emotions in man-woman relationships. In Bengali, Rituporno Ghosh was a master of this genre. Many films by Kieslowski, Polanski, Innaritu, Mokhmalbaf, Sofia Coppola,Hiam Abbas etc show this kind of sensitivity. It is surprising Bisorjon has not garnered too many international awards.

In a depressing rainy day this movie did not lift my spirits but the pain, the tenderness lingers on....the story is unforgettable....the director knows how to make you cry......not without a reason a sequel named Bijoya was made and I now move to watching Bijoya.

Juno, 4months 3 weeks 2 days and Kya Kehna

Recently, I watched these 3 movies in a time spanning 2 weeks and amazed to discover how human societies react differently to the same situation of unwanted pregnancy in different parts of the world depending on socio-political circumstances. In fact, I watched the first two in quick succession and the third one came to my mind to compare the situation. Critical acclaim for the first two attracted me - Juno got Oscar for best screenplay in 2008, 4 months 3 weeks got Palme d’Or in 2007 in Cannes film festival. 

Juno was an unexpected hit in the US despite being a small budget film. Juno, ( portrayed brilliantly by Ellen Page), who  is a bubbly young woman , all of 16 ,  has an unwanted pregnancy. Though she wants to terminate it, she changes her mind later to keep the baby and her father and stepmom support her. In fact, when she declares this to her family, her stepmom jumps to take her to a gynecologist readily. Her father arranges for adoption of the baby by a rich childless couple. This seems quite possible and expected in a free country like America. A girl is exercising her choice to give birth to a baby even though it is unwanted and an open society helps her in defending her right to be an unwed mother.

Now come to the movie 4 months 3 weeks 2 days. In a country where a dictator reigns supreme, where human rights are thwarted every moment and where abortion is illegal, a young college-going woman aborts the fetus quite matter-of-factly in a hushed up manner and goes back to her routine life as if nothing has happened. No question asked about whom or where is the father, no response known from the young woman about how she felt losing her child. In fact, if one has no choice to exercise regarding right to have an unwanted pregnancy, what kind of feeling one could expect from the unwed mother? Even the strongest of feminists would cringe at the movie. 4 weeks 3 months is shot in Romania portraying a story of illegal abortion during Nicolae Ceausescu’s dictatorial regime. Seeing this movie, one can feel how claustrophobic life was behind the iron curtain.

Now come to India. Kya Kehna portrays Priya (played by Priety Zinta ) as the unwed mother who has this pregnancy arising from a relationship with her boyfriend who refuses to own up to it at first. Priya’s family faces social ostracism at first, but when the bold young lady explains her decision to keep the baby and upholds her right in a tearful speech in a social function, her boyfriend and society starts to realize their fault and come up with support. Made in the year 2000, Kya Kehna was a landmark movie in India where unwed motherhood is still considered a taboo. But the movie does not fail to show that Indian society is changing and getting more open to issues like unwanted pregnancy.

These movies made in past few years reflect the position of women in different societies. In open societies women can enjoy personal freedom and in societies like dictator ruled Romania women are left with no choice.

 Note: This article written by me was first published in Times Of India, Rouge, September,2008