From Wikipedia: Soumitra Chatterjee or Soumitra Chattopadhyay (Bengali: সৌমিত্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়) (born 19 January 1935) is an Indian film actor. He is best known for his collaborations with Oscar-winning film director Satyajit Ray, with whom he worked in fourteen films. Soumitra Chattopadhyay is also the first Indian film personality conferred with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France's highest award for artists. In 2012, he received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema given by the government of India for lifetime achievement. He has won two National Film Awards as an actor, and as an actor in Bengali theatre, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1998, given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama
In “Aurora Borealis”, Chatterjee plays 81-years-old Ratul Chattopadhyay, a veteran actor who lives in a nursing home in South Kolkata, and reminisces about his glorious past, as no new roles come for him from contemporary directors. The day the 22-minute short unfolds is his birthday, and Ratul tells to his assistant to leave him alone. Embracing his loneliness and sadness, he embarks on a trip to his past, often narrated by a female voice that seems to be talking to him. Alas, no one is there for him and his angst eventually takes over, just as he is about to go to bed.
“Aurora Borealis” is streaming on Cinemapreneur
Manas Basu directs a film that uses the persona of a “fallen star” to speak about the loneliness and occasional despair the elderly feel as they realize that their end is near, and particularly those who, like the protagonist of the movie, have no family close to them. The sense of melancholia that derives from this sentiment permeates the narrative, while the ominous music of the soundtrack communicates a feeling that something bad is going to happen, in essence highlighting the angst of Ratul to the viewer.
The fact that Basu has cast Soumitra Chatterjee for the leading role gives another level to the overall context, as the veteran actor plays a character that could actually be him under different circumstances. Chatterjee does not speak much in the short, but his presence is imposing either way, while his eyes communicate his character's psychology in the most eloquent fashion.
The various footage from old movies, mostly on 4:3, that appear on screen, also work quite well, as they give a sense of nostalgia and a retro element to the movie, while Niladri Roy's editing has placed them in ideal moments, changing the somewhat “stagnant” nature of the short in the best fashion. Avijit Nandy's cinematography captures the protagonist and his surroundings, which mostly focus on his past through photographs filling the walls, with artistry, essentially allowing Chatterjee to shine without imposing in particular. His approach adds to the overall realism of the short.
“Aurora Borealis” is a well-shot portrait of loneliness and the inevitable decline even stars experience, and a testament to Basu's significant directorial abilities. .
