Bappaditya's Bengali film 'Elar Char Adhyay' frustrates the audience

26 May, 2012

The commercial removal of the historical perspectives and the multiplicity associated with them in Tagore's last novel 'Char Adhyay' made the direction of Bappaditya's film Elar Char Adhyay, dull..

FOR THE last ten years there is a trend, and indeed a marvellous trend, of adapting famous stories and novels for movie in Hindi or Bengali. The latest such bold attempt is Elar Char Adhyay, which is based on Tagore’s ‘Char Adhyay’. This swan song or the last novella of Tagore captured the ideals of Bengali Renaissance in the forties. The story is not much difficult to understand although the novel in itself has a complexity of its message.

Bappaditya in his direction of the film gives special focus on Ela’s character to be played by Paoli Dam. Under Indranath’s leadership a group of freedom fighters were committing their best to the altar of motherland. But the teacher of the group, Ela is found in a dilemma between her lover for the country and love for Atindra. In Rana Dasgupta’s cinematography, the lyrical ambience is well created. Paoli Dam did her best in the character of Ela who is an English educated emancipated woman of 1930s and it seems that she had done her education only to go against her family and follow her heart. This is the weakest part of the film. Paoli has the capability to give her best even in a film like ‘Hate Story’. But in Ela’s character we don’t find anything flesh and blood which Paoli is best to attuned to play. There is more theatricality than movie presentation in the film.

Bappaditya Bandyopadhyay should have taken more care in conveying Tagore’s message through his film. He has skipped the multiple perspectives of film. The director has removed the most important thing of the novel- the background or the ambience itself. The men-women relationship studied against the setting of freedom movement appealed to Tagore again and again from Charulata to Char Adhyay. Even in Sarat Chandra’s ‘Pather Dabi’ also attempted to portray the matrix of such complex relationships. To make the country free from the British rule is a commitment, but this holy passion comes in conflict with the personal emotions. It is a beautiful story of grand clashes which Bappaditya missed. Paoli’s beautiful acting could not save it. Nor even the art direction of Gautam Basu which is excellent. Kudos also to the music directors Gaurav Chattopadhyay and Abraham Majumdar for their innovation. ‘Ai tabe sahochari , hat e hat e dhori dhori’ is wonderfully sung by Somlata Acharya Chowdhury as the other song ‘Majhe majhe tabo dekha pai’ by Sayak Bandyopadhyay.

Besides, there is the powerful acting by Dipankar De. But very poor is the role played by Indranil Sengupta, Bikram Chattopadhyay’s pronunciation is simply disgusting enough to mar the effect of the film. Film making is an art that requires some sincerity and perseverance and the director of the film should have studied some earlier adaptations of Tagore stories and novels by the earlier directors of Bengali films. He could at least make the audience less bored and even Paoli too frustrates them not because of her own fault, but because of the poor direction of the rich novel being shaped to a poor film.