Bold and Uninhibited . Review on Shunyo E Buke Movie

Rituparno Ghosh once disclosed in his celebrated talk show Ebong Rituparno on ETV Bangla that he had told Nandita Das that Kaushik Ganguly, he sincerely believed, was a better director than him. Modest as Rituparno is, it was clear that Kaushik had impressive directorial skill. And Shunyo e Buke stands testimony for the same. It is neither a family film nor one that you can enjoy cozily with your girlfriend. A hard-hitting movie that drives home an issue that is hidden in every male’s and female’s psyche. It is capable of evoking strong reaction in both sexes in equal measure. It’s an wonderful experience how such an extremely sensitive subject could be made into such an riveting movie. Saumitra (Kaushik Sen), a brilliant artist (Painter and sculptor), visits Khajuraho to draw inspiration and meets Churni (Churni Ganguly) there through a common friend (Tota) who is an artiste too. Love blossoms between them in Kolkata and though their family and economic standards are poles apart, they decide to marry. Churni breaks away from her rich, blue blood family. On the marriage night Kaushik, to his shock, discovers that Churni is flat-chested. The shock develops into sense of being cheated, anger and finally hatred. Churni first tries to reason and pleads helplessness but after suffering Saumitra beyond a point she seeks divorce. The movie ends with a twist on a day years after their split. But you are better advised to watch it. The movie goes deep into the psyche of both sexes regarding the male fantasy of developed breasts. So well the subject is dealt with that it becomes a documentary reference for the issue. The director is not judgmental in addressing Saumitra’s frustration with Churni’s body. We see arguments of both protagonists. Saumitra, being a painter and sculptor whose area of work is female body, naturally has a well-nourished fantasy for developed female breasts. Hence he condemns Churni’s being silent on the issue before they married. While Churni pleads that it was natural underdevelopment and beyond her control, Saumitra hits back asking why Churni would wear padded bras to cover her deficit. Churni has always been extremely sensitive about the issue and hence in the past could not make up her mind for marriage being afraid of this consequence. She trusted Saumitra as like every lovestruck man he said that her body didn’t matter to him, it was her mind that does attract. All the actors and actresses are well cast. Everyone does his job just right. Due credit goes to Kaushik, Churni and Tota for impersonating the protagonists with absolute naturalness. They are successful in maintaining the right scale of expression, without ever getting melodramatic. It would not be possible if they had not internalized the characters. Kaushik is a competent natural performer and it’s the loss of the Bengali cinema audience not to see him much on big screen. Rupa impresses in a guest appearance. But this essentially is a director’s movie as it didn’t actually ride on individual performances. Dialogue is the soul of the movie, just like it should be with any narrative film but so rarely happens. Except just a few occasional hitches, dialogue has helped the director flesh out the story. So are the Baul songs skillfully woven into the script. Kaushik (Director) has also done a fine job in the screenplay, apart from the story written by him (Published some time back as a short story in Anandabazar Patrika). Due credit goes to Kaushik for developing a short story into such an interesting full length feature film. Chiradeep Dasgupta has done a good job at the background score. Kharaj’s Baul songs play in the mind long after the movie is over. With this second movie by Kaushik, the question that we, the lovers of meaningful Bengali cinema, would often ask ‘Who after Rituparno in Bengali cinema?’ is no more unanswered. Kaushik, I will eargerly await your next film.