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Film Review: Abyakto (2018) by Arjunn Dutta

Every relationship revolves around the transparency of thoughts and the means of communication which keep it afloat. “” is a movie that deals with the unsaid and untold emotions and thoughts which create a barrier between a mother and her son, due to lack of transparency in the relationship. The movie follows a minimum storyline with a maximum impact and leaves an essence of poetry in the mind of the audience for its stylish directorial approach.

Abyakto” is screening at London Indian Film Festival

Indra (Anubhav Kanjilal) revisits his hometown near Kolkata after a few years of his father's death.  He is reluctant to meet his mother Sathi () for their dysfunctional relationship. Indra believes that he failed to enjoy his childhood, as Sathi never allowed him to fulfill his desire to play girlish games (Khelna Bati) in his childhood and always forced him to stay away from his wishes.  Sathi was also against his closeness with Rudra uncle (Adil Hussain), Indra's father- Kaushik's  (Anirban Ghosh) friend, whose love and knowledge of literature had a deep impact on Indra. The movie unfolds through the path of intriguing dialogues between Indra and Sathi till it reaches an unexpected climax which clears the besmear of doubts from Indra's mind.

Anubhav Kanjilal is brilliant as Indra. His facial expression is perfect in every frame and his unwillingness to accept the thoughts of his mother is always portrayed through his expressive eyes which have been masterly captured by the director.  Arpita Chatterjee is perfect as Sathi and delivers one of her best performances till date. Adil Hussain has a magnetic presence on screen and always steals the show with whichever roles he plays. As Rudra, he has limited presence in the movie but portrays the character with perfect expressions.  There are multiple snippets of childhood memories of Indra in the movie, which has been used aesthetically by the director and Samontak Dyuti Maitra is outstanding as young Indra.

“Abyakto” has a simple storyline but stands apart due to the unending deepness in the narrative which has been artfully handled by the director . The director scripted the narrative perfectly to portray the stiffness of the relationship between a mother and a son. The cinematography is poetic and the touch of classical music blends with the narrative perfectly to bring out the aura of freshness which deepens with the flow of the “unsaid” thoughts of the two protagonists. There have been multiple confrontations between an unyielding son and his mother which has been captured with perfect dialogues and silence when required to portray the divergence of the state of mind of two main characters.

With an aesthetically poised filmmaking approach and the aura of freshness in the narrative, “Abyakto” is undoubtedly one of the best Bengali movies of recent times and a must watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ol4VsHCXo8

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