As I have mentioned before, after reviewing a rather large number of quarantine films during these two years, the point of dealing with those movies is to see if someone can present something new in the whole setting. Debanjan Dey comes up with a family drama that actually achieves that, particularly through its ending.
“Omelette” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
After being unable to contact her son Rohan and her daughter-in-law for days, Anupama visits their home. Her behaviour is the typical one of the “son's mother” as she whines about him not calling nor visiting, before she proceeds on badmouthing her husband, and finally her daughter-in-law, although in this case, it seems she is right. Rohan's wife has a tendency to leave him for days, doing who knows what, while his only able to beg her to come back, not being able to let her go. Anupama gives him a hard time about it, but eventually, mother instinct takes over, and she proceeds on preparing for him his favorite dish, an omelette.
This scene is presented in rather different fashion that the rest of the short, since the ominous music and the speed manipulation makes the sequence look like something between the music video and the commercial, although the sense it emits is one of hilarity. Sukrit Ghosh's cinematography and Snehal Char's editing find their apogee in this scene, which is the most visually impressive in the movie.
It seems that his mother's food wakes up child instincts in Rohan, whose final act looks like an unusual kind of “returning to the womb”, which will definitely bring a smile to the viewer's lips.
The comments of the film are rather evident, with Debanjan Dey stating that “even if your wife abandons you, your mother will always be there for you” on the one hand, and on the other that “this will probably not be enough”.
Chandreyee Mitra is quite convincing in the archetypal role of the whining mother, but Ritwick Purkait as Rohan is largely unconvincing, occasionally seeming as if he just utters his lines instead of actually acting. His last action, however, definitely compensates.
Considering the limitations of this 9 minute film, Debanjan Dey did a rather good job, resulting in a very entertaining short, that will make its audience smile for a number of reasons.
