Director: Shekhar Das
Writers: Shekhar Das (screenplay), Rabindranath Tagore (story)
Stars: Shuvolagna Mukherjee, Bratya Basu, Ananya Chatterjee |
Storyline :
Set in the late 70's of the last century when sharp contrasting values
of rural urban divide of our society was facing challenge to come to
terms with the fast changing world. Kumudidini, a beautiful girl in her
mid- 20s having spiritual bend of mind; raised in the serene atmosphere
of Indian village, oblivious about the materialistic world; was
compelled by circumstances to a nuptial bondage with Madhusdan Ghosal, a
50 year old city bred, egocentric, coarse natured highly successful
business man. For Kumudinil who had been brought up in a strict moral
code and in the aristocratic background, marriage meant to be a holy act
with the Lord (Lord Krishna whom she worshiped like Devotee Meera). But
for Madhusudan, marriage was an instrument of sexual act. Being denied
by wife for his loveless lust, he attempted to rape his wife. So
Kumudini confronted obvious problems of conflicting values that took the
relationship to its worst height. Kumudini couldn't take it more,
finally she left the... Jogajog Movie Reviews :
When someone makes a film based on Rabindranath Tagore's literary masterpieces, the job is both difficult and easy. Difficult because almost all characters created by him are layered. Added to that, the storyline and the philosophical observations of the author make the onscreen adaptations of his works a bit hard. On the other hand, it's easy because the stories, the people in them, the backgrounds, are complicated and varied, and hence, cinematic. Sekhar Das's Jogajog has explored the complications of Tagore's writings and celebrated them through superb performances and brilliant music direction.
Also Read: Tagore's Jogajog adaptation to star Ananya, Bratya Basu
It's a story about two families - the Ghoshals and the Chatujjeys - who are age-old rivals. Bipradas Chatujjey (Arjun Chakrabortyy), a soft-spoken man devoted to music, becomes financially indebted to Madhusudan Ghoshal (Bratya Basu), the middle-aged businessman and patriarch of the Ghoshal family. To resolve the situation, Madhusudan offers to marry the youngest daughter of Chatujjey family, Kumudini, a girl half his age. The marriage brings the stark differences of the two families out in the open. Kumudini (Suvolagna Mukherjee), a strong-willed, religious-minded and culturally-rich girl agrees to the marriage to save her brothers. But Madhusudan's dominating nature and crudeness repulses her. Her situation becomes more difficult with the presence of Madhusudan's almost dysfunctional family — a hen-pecked brother and a widowed sister-in-law (Ananya Chatterjee), who is in an illegitimate relationship with her husband.
Also Read: I know it's difficult to make me a hero — Bratya Basu
Bratya Basu, Suvolagna Mukherjee and Ananya Chatterjee make this film worth a watch. Suvolagna, especially, is a revelation. She is a bit stiff in some of the opening scenes, but as the film progresses, Kumudini becomes real with all her insecurities, unrequited love and rebelliousness. Her vulnerability gives a stark contrast to Bratya's roughness and that's what makes this unusual pair's chemistry real. For instance, the emotional tug-of-war between Madhusudan and Kumudini just after their wedding is heart-wrenching. The director has also given Madhusudan's character a humorous twist, which gives the much-needed relief from the film's overall intensity. Ananya Chatterjee as Shyamasundori, on the other hand, moves like a dark shadow throughout the film. One moment, she is the lonely widow desperate for attention and affection, and the next, she is the sultry femme fatale. And Ananya is brilliant in portraying the contradiction.
Shaheb Chatterjee and Locket Chatterjee as Nabin and Nistarini are entertaining as Madhu's brother and sister-in-law. So is Arjun as Kumu's elder brother. The film's strength is also its music and for that Pt Debojyoti Bose should be appreciated. However, the director should have taken more care while scripting and editing the film. Some scenes and some reactions of the actors are too hurried to make an impact. The story also drags 30 minutes too long. Last but not the least, there's confusion over the timeline in the film. The way the characters behave, the languages they speak indicate that they belong more or less to the time when the novel was published — 1929. Then how can the wedding band play Mein hoon don or Dekha na hai re socha na? Has the director forgotten that these films released in the late '70s? That's a jump of nearly half a century!
The bottomline: Jogajog is certainly worth a watch, purely for the stellar performances by the actors.
+ comments + 1 comments
I wonder how one discovers that the characters of the film behave like 1929!As a director I had never asked my artistes to behave like the way feudals behaved in 1929, or is it possible? As regards the language spoken was taken from a classic so a distant flavour was kept deliberately more over I used the text which Tagore revised after almost a decade for the drama version so more updated.
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