Meenakshi Iyer (Konkona Sen Sharma) sets out on a bus journey to Calcutta with her one year old boy, Santhanam. Her parents ask a fellow bus passenger, a slight acquaintance by the name of Raja (Rahul Bose), to help her along the way. The bus is like a minute microcosm of India with all the various types you can imagine, there are the singing youngsters, the slow boy and his mother, the disapproving old maid, the card playing men, the Muslims, Sikhs, Jews. The journey of the bus is rudely interrupted when the occupants are stopped and told of a communal riot in the neighborhood where a Hindu was killed and now the Hindus are out for Muslim blood. Meenakshi finds out that Raja is actually Jehangir Choudhary and a Muslim. A series of traumatic events follow and when asked she introduces the couple as Mr. and Mrs. Iyer. The "Iyers" have to sojourn in a small town while there is a curfew on and find shelter in an almost abandoned rest house. There is a palpable attraction that grows between them and a level of comfort too, but eventually in a very Wong Kar Wai fashion, Mrs. Iyer is handed over to the real Mr. Iyer at Calcutta station.
The film is no doubt a statement on all the communal violence that has become part of our country's history, but is also an ode to humanity and to man helping man. There is an uplifting message and the sense that out of darkness light can emerge. Aparna Sen is a master at her craft and the film is excellent in story, direction, cinematography, acting. But what I commend most is the way she has captured the lead pair. Rahul Bose never looked so endearing and heart-stoppingly good, and Ms. Sen Sharma is imbued with a lush and sultry beauty throughout. Add this to the fact that they do the finest job with their roles and you have a beautiful film. Rahul plays the secular, unfailingly polite, intelligent Muslim man very well, and Konkona never misses a beat with her Southie English accent! There is a conflict at a whole another level that makes this an intriguing film - the lead pair are obviously made for each other and very attracted to each other (maybe in a sort of Stockholm syndrome way, as they are fellow sufferers), and you feel their pain at the parting, and weep inside just a tiny bit for them, but then life gets back on track again and what cannot be is forgotten.
The music is divine and this film is a certain keeper.
The film is no doubt a statement on all the communal violence that has become part of our country's history, but is also an ode to humanity and to man helping man. There is an uplifting message and the sense that out of darkness light can emerge. Aparna Sen is a master at her craft and the film is excellent in story, direction, cinematography, acting. But what I commend most is the way she has captured the lead pair. Rahul Bose never looked so endearing and heart-stoppingly good, and Ms. Sen Sharma is imbued with a lush and sultry beauty throughout. Add this to the fact that they do the finest job with their roles and you have a beautiful film. Rahul plays the secular, unfailingly polite, intelligent Muslim man very well, and Konkona never misses a beat with her Southie English accent! There is a conflict at a whole another level that makes this an intriguing film - the lead pair are obviously made for each other and very attracted to each other (maybe in a sort of Stockholm syndrome way, as they are fellow sufferers), and you feel their pain at the parting, and weep inside just a tiny bit for them, but then life gets back on track again and what cannot be is forgotten.
The music is divine and this film is a certain keeper.