Kashmakash

So our very own bengali babu, Rituparno Ghosh is back! And that too with another Rabindranath Tagore's penned literature inspiration for the movie ... read more

So our very own bengali babu, Rituparno Ghosh is back! And that too with another Rabindranath Tagore's penned literature inspiration for the movie goers this weekend. The director's fetish on the Nobel laureates literature seems to be going unnoticed. So, the team of Rituparno Ghosh and Subhash Ghai have selected one of the famous works of Tagore titled as Nouka Dubi I Bengali or Kashmakash in Hindi.
The movie is set in 1920's Bengal region and tells the story of character named Ramesh played by Jisshu Sengupta and Susheela played by Riya Sen. The two have been forced to marry, though the grooms heart is stuck on Hem Nalini played by Raima Sen. Plot becomes complex when it turns out that Susheela is after all a lady named Kamala who is wife of someone named Neel Naksha Choudhury played by Prosenjit Chatterjee. So, the righteous Ramesh sets out to reunite the two. And as it the story goes, the rest is all about the journey and its effect on Rameshs life.

The true Bengali portrayal had been carried out to the T, and so are the actors who have well known Bengali roots. The Sen sisters are no alien to the Bengal and so are the male characters of the movie, making it a perfect role for everybody to play. The soft melodies and lilting background music by the team of Raja Narayan Deb and Sanjoy Das is befitting the storyline. Though I must say the pace of the movie slow and even drags at times which makes it a tiring task for audience to stay in their seats. Probably the chance is that people would overlook this cinema compilation over the most awaited Johnny Depps Pirates of the Caribbean 4. But still the hope has to be kept alive that some rare soul will appreciate all the hard work that went in making the film.

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I am not a stickler for mellow romantic drama and I found it difficult to instantly like this film. I however believe that it would be erroneous to... read more

I am not a stickler for mellow romantic drama and I found it difficult to instantly like this film. I however believe that it would be erroneous to be judgemental, because this kind of cinema has an audience of its own.

Dubbed from a Bengali film which is in itself inspired from Tagore, Kashmakash tells the story of four people who, as luck would have had it have intertwined lives. Hemnalini (Raima) and Ramesh love each other, but Ramesh marries someone else under pressure from his family. As luck would have it, they meet with an accident when the young couple's boat capsizes and Ramesh finds himself marooned on a shore with Kamala (Riya). Now since Ramesh had never seen his own wife and Kamala is dressed as a bride, he automatically believes her to be the one. Meanwhile, Hemnalini learns about her lover's marriage and falls in love with Nalinaksha, who is actually Kamala's husband.

While the story is a typical melodrama about human relationships, much rests on the treatment. Here, Rituparno-da creates an authentic atmosphere of Bengal from older times, by way of dressing sense and sets. By way of performances too, the actors play their parts well however at times they seem to be unrealistic and overtly dramatic. It is hard to imagine Riya Sen as a tormented woman. The sorrow and the suffering depicted in the film also make it a slightly less entertaining and somewhat painful watch, and will appeal only to the intellectual Bong in his/her native language. Raima Sen however takes most of the accolades feeling remarkably natural; she already comes experienced in artsy cinema and knows exactly what to do in these situations.

Although I haven't read the book nor do I have any working knowledge of Bengali literature, I have heard that the film takes liberal digressions from the actual story which might offend Tagore afficionados, the primary audience for the film.

Final word ? - Meant for leisurely viewing by audiences over 30 who are ready to give time to watch this intense outing. And perhaps overlook the creative differences from Rabindra nath's actual Nauka Dubi. view less

I happened to watch Rituparno Ghosh's 'Nouka Dubi' (the original Bengali language version of Kashmakash) at IFFI Goa last year. Accompanying me for... read more

I happened to watch Rituparno Ghosh's 'Nouka Dubi' (the original Bengali language version of Kashmakash) at IFFI Goa last year. Accompanying me for the screening was a fellow MJ and voracious reader Smita Vyas Kumar, who as luck would have it had read Tagore's book from which the movie had been adapted. Smita's sharp observations about the illogical departures from the literary source material only gave me a clearer picture about how Ghosh had obviously missed the boat on this one.

From a little bit of online research I found out that this isn't the first time the Tagore book has been adapted for the big screen & not even having watched the earlier adaptations I can't compare them with this one. But having watched Rituparno Ghosh's previous work I can see the same type of pretentiousness permeate his work this time around too.

Ramesh (Jishu Sengupta) & Hemnalini (Raima Sen) are madly in love with each other. Ramesh however is called upon to return to his village and marry a young girl whom his father has chosen as the bride. Ramesh relents but is emotionally blackmailed into ultimately marrying her. After the wedding, Ramesh & his bride (whom he hasnt seen yet) set out to Calcutta by a boat across the river. A storm capsizes the boat and Ramesh awakes along the riverbed, calling out his bride by her name, Susheela. He manages to find a woman (Riya Sen) unconscious lying by the riverside dressed like a bride and who responds to him instantaneously. Assuming it's Susheela (even though she keeps on calling herself Kamala) he takes her along back to Calcutta but falters when it comes to revealing the truth to Hemnalini. Soon however the truth emerges to Hemnalini and her family. On a trip to Kashi trying to find a way to repair the emotional pain, Hemnalini comes across a doctor, Nalinaksha (Prosenjit) and sparks begin to fly. He too is recovering fro heartbreak over his to-be-bride who never turned up for the wedding. While all four people seem to have made peace with their lives, a new twist puts them all on collision course all over again.

The plot I've placed is a little simplified version of the movie's and far too simplified of that of the book. Though I liked the narrative style and pacing the movie, the way scenes have been constructed and the camera work coupled with the background score turned me off. The emphasis on unrealistic and over-dramatized portrayal of emotions, particularly pain, seemed so overdone that it just didn't strike a chord. Infact it induced a few chuckles in places. The dialogues which may sound good on paper are ruined by the wave of over-dramatization.

The acting too suffers thanks to all too obvious expressions of sorrow & pain which all the actors are asked to display by trying to maintain strained expressions or a dead-pan searing look in their eyes, staring longingly at the camera or into the distance. Nothing is subtle here; everything is played up to the crowds under the guise of being an art-film.

I'd say avoid the movie all together and instead look for Tagore's book or try searching for the original movie adaptations. view less

Lets not beat around the bush.Even though 'Kashmakash' is based on a short story of Rabindranath Tagore yet it pushes your patience to the extreme ... read more

Lets not beat around the bush.Even though 'Kashmakash' is based on a short story of Rabindranath Tagore yet it pushes your patience to the extreme frontiers to keep seated till the very end of the film. Not everyone can endure this film and I can confess that almost half a dozen times even I was tempted to sneak out of the theater. No matter which way you choose to look at this film Kashmakash is certainly not a film for the masses. It is for a select audience who has all the endurance and will-power to keep glued to the seat so that they can be counted amongst the masses.

Had producer Subhash Ghai stuck to the original title 'Nauka Doobi' it would have been a far apt title for the film that truly drowned at the box-office no sooner it set sailing on uncertain waters. This bi-lingual film made in Hindi-Bengali has a cast that may draw in crowds in Bengal as it boasts of names like heavyweight Dhritman Chatterjee, Prasonjeet Chatterjee along with the Ren sisters Raima & Riya Sen with Jishu Sengupta but for the Bollywood audience they are absolute strangers. So if anyone could attract the audience it was Subhash Ghai pouring in his money as the producer and Gulzar as the lyricist with the credentials of Rituparno Ghosh having universal appeal.

Even though the short story penned by Rabindranath Tagore set in the early 1920's has an appeal to it not many can connect with it in present times. There is a genuine appeal to the film that has been captured but sadly there are no buyers. That era may have nostalgia but few can connect with it in spite of best of intentions. All said and done Kashmakash is a thumping flop at the box-office as no audience turned up to watch this film and quite frankly you cannot blame the audience for keeping away as the film was released bang into the IPL season.

The only USP of this film is the magnetic presence of Raima & Riya Sen in the same film that has happened only once before and over here it is really hard to tell which of them is actually better. even though lots of people would instinctively back Raima as a better actress yet I would say Riya Sen has given quite a moving performance and shut up her critics as she wins hearts with her standing apart performance. Not that Raima Sen is any less than Riya having done at least two films with Rituparno Ghosh in the past.

Jishu Sengupta is a law student in Calcutta who is madly in love with Raima Sen and is poised to marry her soon but circumstances take an odd swing as back home his father has given his word and thus the hapless lawyer is forced to marry Susheela but on his way back his ship meets with a terrible storm and he lands on a deserted shore unconscious and half dead as his 'Nauka had drowned. Seeing a newly wed bride also unconscious he assumes she is his bride as he had never seen her face before he brings her home little realising that she is not his Susheela but actually Kamla the wife of a Bengali doctor from Kashi.

Circumstances take a sudden turn when Raima's father also arrives with her in Kashi with his love lorn daughter to give her life some change and also recover himself. There circumstances bring the lawyer and the doctor face to face with each others wife entangled with the others husband. The climax reveals how the emotional trauma is finally resolved.

Even though Kashmakash can appeal to the elite audience in Bengal else where Subhash Ghai's Nauka has indeed Doobi at the box-office. I found the film to give even a snail a complex the way it dragged but if there was anything in it for me it was Riya Sen being pitted against her sister Raima and actually giving a performance that went quite against her grain thus proving that given a decent role she too can deliver a performance worth relishing!!!

REVIEWED BY THE LIP SHANDIL
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Kashmakash good movie