The Married Woman. Review on Parineeta

Parineeta – the married woman; a woman who stayed true to her love despite the slander and the affront meted out to her by her wavering friend and his family. While the story plot was rather rigid with its classic rich boy-poor girl set up one needed to view it against the prevalent social norms which existed and the desire to escape this. Love and romance became a means.

I liked the film for its adaptation with the producer director duo managing a fairly decent screenplay of Sarat Chandra’s original classic. Leap-froging the story from its early 19th century backdrop to a 1960’s Bengal, it eschewed the child marriage set up involving the protagonist and her friend. The ending was a lot theatrical as compared to the measured performance and pace maintained throughout the film. What really stood out was the director’s passion, the characters in the plot, the performances by the artists, and the sepia tone. Surely with so many things going right for the team, the eventual product couldn’t disappoint. And it didn’t. The songs were the icing on the cake. All of them barring one were lilting and immensely hummable.

The director focussed solely on the relationship between the protagonist and her child hood friend. A friendship so innocent, so pure, so unspoken both never realized their hidden emotions till much later when Girish entered their lives. Saif’s character of an indecisive, ambivalent Shekhar who dithered & vacillated in his love for Lolita was brilliantly portrayed. He excelled in his demeanor of a rich Bengali aristocrat. Girish’s character on the other hand wasn’t substantial and Sanjay Dutt looked jaded with puffed eyes and an expressionless performance. Though I never had an image of Lolita in my mind, Vidya Balan’s opening shot mesmerized me. She looked ravishing and absolutely irresistible. Her eyes spoke volumes and radiated the intensity of her character and the emotions she attached to her relationship with Shekhar and his parents. I now had a face to Lolita that lingered long after in my mind’s eye and was difficult to let go off. The author would have been proud of Sarkar’s interpretation of his female protagonist.

While Sarat Chandra ended his classic with Shekhar’s aristocratic father succumbing to his illness, in the film the father’s relentless pursuit of money and business profits created a stranglehold his son wasn’t able to break through. The symbolic destruction of this control which was a serious aspect of the plot however became comical and amusing. The only flaw in what was an above average production and directorial venture. A creative that was miles ahead of Devdas. Wonder what a certain director would have to say about this film? Two very distinct and very different sensibilities involved in the making of both the creative products.