by Rwita Dutta
The citation of the jury arrived and it declared the reason behind the prestigious award received by the Indian film, Dictionary (Bengali/2021/ 110 minutes) in the recently concluded Nepal International Film Festival, 2021. The illustrious jury members unanimously cited the deliberation before submitting their verdict. They thought Dictionary was the “delicate depiction of a slice of the contemporary Indian society portrayed with warm humour and critique of the substitution of cultural values”.
A short stint with the director Bratya Basu revealed that it was the vulnerability of marital and familial relationships that attracted his attention to make the film. Inspired from two short stories,Baba howa (becoming a father) and Swami howa (becoming a husband) by the renowned Bengali writer Buddhadev Guha, this film germinated in Basu's mind slowly and quite imperceptibly.Basu felt that institutions were not beyond question but institutions could not always be seen and judged sceptically.
The astonishing fact is that this film is extremely rooted in Bengal and its culture. Being a film critic, it was a curious question for me to enquire how exactly it lured jury members belonging to an entirely different soil. The answer was plain and simple. In a grim situation created by the pandemic, perhaps the sincerity and honesty of the film acted as a panacea to all ills! At times, among all these pandemonium around us, we need solace and this movie fills one with hope, joy and tranquillity instead of violence, rage and despair.
As told before, two plots run parallel before they start intersecting with each other with a few common threads. Emma Goldstone's famous two liners:“Before we can forgive each other, We must understand each other” is the quintessential comment of the film.
The first plot revolves around a small nuclear family in the post globalized era, residing in an upper-class establishment. Makarkranti Chatterjee (played by Mosharraf Karim), a prosperous entrepreneur, lives in a high rise with his loving wife Srimati (Poulomi Basu) and his young son Rakesh. He is an ambitious man with lots of aspirations. Once living below poverty line, Makarkanti is ferociously westoxicated. He staunchly believes only proper westernization can ensure his supremacy in the society. He is disappointed with his growing son and his apathy towards adopting a western style of life.
On the other hand, Asok Sanyal (Abir Chatterjee) and his wife Smita (Nusrat Jahan) live a quiet life in the countryside. Makarkranti's brother-in-law Suman (Arna Mukhopadhyay) arrives in their township as a teacher in a local college. Suman and Smita had a hidden past. Their relationship rekindles once they meet again. Asok is a solitary man who seems to understand this illicit relationship of his estranged wife. But he is reclusive and everything is conjured up inside him. Smita found solace in Suman but he, like an ordinary middle-class Bengali, hypocrite to the core, eventually acts evasively and promptly settles with the girl his sister, Srimati chooses for him.
It is the inner meaning in a few words that define the characters, who are multi-layered, yet quite familiar to us. This immersive and sensitive film by its outer space does deceive us at the outset but every frame depicts the simplistic set of events to create an abysmal profoundness. The stand-alone scenes are worth remembering, so is Prabuddha Banerjee's haunting soundtrack and veteran cinematographer Sirsha Roy's visual poetry. The scenes are precise and the direction meticulous. The film's rich emotional narrative reverberates and is being universally appreciated.
Another significant aspect is the acting department. Every actor did their best. Mosharraf Karim is impeccable in depicting his character, so is Poulomi Basu as his wife, Srimati. Their son played by Sagnik Choudhury as Rakesh is a revelation. Nusrat Jahan appeared in a different avatar. Arna and Abir are apt in their roles. The director cast a few important theatre actors in the film. They are powerful on the stage as they are here. Indrajeet Chakraborty(a suave Geography teacher‘Amit-da' as Suman's colleague) with his mischievous banter, Rahul Sengupta (as the suave bank manager Mr. Roy),Madhumita Basak (as Nabanita,Suman's newlywed wife) envisaged loads of possibilities. Dictionary adds to the meaning of life, while life with all its hidden treasures remains elusive.
At present, this film is streaming on the OTT platform Zee 5.
