History is always derived from the lives of common masses and their strive for existence. Director Tushar Ballov's Bengali socio-political drama “Baki Itihas” deals with few common faces in the crowd and the story of their love, wish, pain, anger and all other human emotions.
Jana (Surajit Mondal) and Bablu (Tanmoy Majumder) are teenagers and close friends and reside in same village. But Jana is haunted by a rival political group and the police in a case of attempted murder. Jana flees to survive and stays in the outskirts of his village. Bablu meets Jana regularly while going to school and tuition classes and shares thoughts and food with him. He is emotionally attached with Jana and with Gouri- who is a lady in her thirties and unmarried. Bablu develops a feeling for Gouri (Sangita Ballov) which is more for physical attraction than love. And Gauri also searches for the untold story of passion in her life in Bablu. Jana understands Bablu's feelings for Gouri. But one day, Gouri is raped and murdered and Bablu finds her body floating in the a canal. Jana is caught by the rival party members and killed. Police comes into the village in search of a young maoist terrorist and Bablu's father asks him to flee the village in anguish and police finds him while he tries to escape. And a gunshot ends the manuscript which remains unfinished.
The narrative tells a story of rural India and the casting is very important to bring in the aura of a village. Tanmoy Majumder is a perfect selection for Bablu and he portrays the character of a rural boy with convincing perfection. The character goes through adolescent and many shades of emotions. Sangita Ballov has a difficult character to portray but she is outstanding as Gouri. There are multiple close shots to capture her emotional turbulence and its been done masterly by the director Tushar Ballov. Surajit Mondal is radiant as Jana. The movie has been picturized in the beautiful location of Bankura and the cinematography of Saurav Banerjee is aesthetically poised. Anirban Roy has tuned some beautiful songs in the movie and those blend perfectly with the narrative, including the outstanding last song with credits “Fele Asa Pather banke”, which brings in the aura of Kabir Suman. Art direction of Samir Aich is flawless and Gobinda Naskar has edited the movie greatly.
Tushar Ballov has been brought up in rural Bengal and that helps him to create such a masterpiece. The director leaves the touch of brilliance in every frame. He portrays a narrative that touches love, pain and failed wishes on the backdrop of beautiful scenic locals to bring out the effect of contrast on the mind of the audience. The unfinished love story of Gauri and Bablu is brilliantly captured through an illusory world where the uses of music plays a pivotal role. With some amazing performances of the protagonists and a brilliant directorial approach, “Baki Itihas” stands as one of the best Indian movies of recent times.
