Coming Full Circle. Review on Faltu Movie

Anjan Das had burst into the Bengali film scene in a big way with the superbly crafted Sanjhbaatir Roopkathara a few years back. Many moons ago he had made his very first film called Sainik, which hasn't yet had a commercial release in spite of critical acclaim in several film festivals. After Sanjhbaatir Roopkathara, he went out to make Iti Srikanta (which saw the debut of Soha Ali Khan) and it fetched lukewarm response. This time he has filmed in languid frames the cinematically rich Faltu. It is produced by Arindam Choudhury, who had backed Anjan Das's maiden project. The film has a thin storyline (based on Syed Mustafa Siraj's Ranir Ghater Brittanto). The eponymous character is a young man searching for his identity. He was born to a mentally challenged woman who had taken refuge at Ranir Ghat on a stormy night. The truth about the impregnation of the unstable woman unfolds in flashbacks and reveals the dormant and repressed sexual urges of the otherwise decent village folk who had been living like an extended family. The protagonist had lost his mother in his infancy and has known all the village elders as his wellwishers. They had collectively nurtured him as their own. But now as he starts questioning his own identity and is desperate to learn who his real father is, things that lay buried in the past are raked to people's discomfort and the upheaval shakes him from his roots. Things, however, come a full circle with the entire lot of villagers having to abandon their dwellings as the government declares it a necessity for the infrastructural upliftment! It is up to Faltu, now a battered soul, to decide in which way should he travel and to seek comfort from whom or what............... Faltu boasts of an excellent cinematography and a sensitive execution. However, the screenplay could have been spruced up a bit to make it accessible to a wider section of viewers. The worst moments in the film are, unfortunately, the two death scenes (plot-details not being provided to avoid spoiling viewing pleasure) which could have been filmed in a manner befitting the harsh sense of betrayal and could have involved the audience to a greater extent than merely generating a maudlin response.The cast includes Soumitra Chatterjee, Nirmal Kumar, Indrani Haldar, Chhandaa Chatterjee, Biplab Chatterjee, Debesh RoyChoudhury, Masood Akhtar, Sumanta Mukherjee, Manjari Phadnis, Pradip Mukherjee and, in the title role, Yash Pandit. Both Yash & Manjari inspite of having been imported from Mumbai seem very much at ease and the camera loves the pair. The music is by Jyotiska Dasgupta. Cinematography: Shirsha Roy. Art Direction: Indranil Ghosh. Producer: Planman Motion Pictures (Arindam Choudhury). Released on 17th February, 2006.