Jaatishwar (2014) - A Review

Jaatishwar (2014) - A Review

Theatrical release poster of the film

One of the greatest things about Bengali cinema, Tollywood-style, is that, no matter how many movies we happen to watch, it is difficult to anticipate what will be coming next. Well, on the second thought, the same happens to be in the case of Hollywood and Bollywood as well, but somehow Tollywood's resurrection is way more interesting. Possibly it's because from 1990s to around 2008, the only stuff that Tollywood produced were mainstream, commercial titles, lacking any powerful storyline, decent portrayal of characters and just as much anything worthy of mention. But thankfully and fortunately, this is no longer the case. And possibly to stand out as a testament to the validity of this statement, Jaatishwar has been released recently.

The movie, first of all, is not a remake of the older Antony Firingee film (with the titular character played by Uttam Kumar). It's more of an experiment, blending the time of Antony with the modern mainstream culture of Bengal. It's a story that relates the two very different times, while simultaneously allowing us to look into each era differently. This is, in my opinion, the strongest point in support of the film.

Setting 

The movie is set in the modern time, featuring a modern look at fast, flashy and friendly Kolkata. It revolves around the concept of true love, that love that lasts for generations. The same love is presented parallaly across two eras, and two generations. First we have the modern era, revolving around the life of a wealthy Gujarati boy and his unfulfilled dream of getting the love of Mahamaya, a Bengalee girl with a deep passion for everything Bengali. This is a saga that ends in happiness and completion, with the two characters getting united at the end. But then again, lying behind this apparent scene of happiness, we have a picture of Anthony Firingee reincarnated, in the form of Kushal, a sickly weak assistant-librarian hailing from Chandannagar. Overall, the primary setting of the film is brilliant, and quite honestly so.

Prosenjit as Anthony. His makeup continues to
fascinate me even now! 

Directed by the emerging direction-prodigy, Srijit Mukherjee, the film continues to make subtle use of various elements such as an ambient atmosphere, quality lighting and marvelous sound effects. The scenes depicted in the movie are very realistic, and we get a true picture of how colonial Bengal looked like, through the eyes of Heynsman Anthony. And then again, the parallel storyline that runs, orbitting around the love story of Rohit and Mahamaya, presents us with a picture of modern Kolkata, thus getting us thinking. While watching the film, I was thrilled to witness a sort of repetition, a sort of continuation, that keeps on coming back through the two eras. It's subtle, it's almost undetectable, but it's there.

Storyline 

The story unfolds with the introduction of Mahamaya (Swastika Mukherjee), a somewhat snob, self-conscious Bengalee girl studying at the university. She's relentlessly pursued by Rohit, the son of a wealthy Gujarati businessman, for obvious reasons. However, Mahamaya cruelly rejects Rohit's proposal of love, asking him instead to refine his Bengali accent first, and then go as far as composing a Bengali song about her, and playing the very same for her.

Rohit, after supposedly getting devastated, goes to study music in Portugal, where he becomes good friends with Bodhi (Abir Chatterjee), a Bengali student studying there. Mahayama, in the mean time, has become the RJ of a popular radio station back in Kolkata, where she continues to play famous but old Bengali music, which causes the ratings of the station to drop with time. However, the station's boss (played by Srijit himself) wants Mahamaya to organize a cultural festival for accompanying a set of treaties between the governments of India and Bangladesh. Mahamaya decides the name of the event to be Bandemonium, and goes about organizing it.

The story of Anthony is told by Kushal,
which adds an air of subjective viewpoint
to it. Brilliant work, Srijit!

In the mean time, Rohit decides to make a project on Hensyman Anthony, a Portuguese merchant who had become an ardent admirer of rural Bengali music and Kabigaan (a musical duel held between masters of Bengali music during the 19th century). All his musical studies, including his interest in Bengali music, is actually to impress Mahamaya, although he has lost regular contact with her. He journeys back to India, and travels to Chandannagar, the town where Anthony supposedly lived. But no one seems to care much about Anthony, with some people mistaking him to be Marcus Antonius of the play Julius Caesar, while others vaguely recalling the movie on him, where he was portrayed by Uttam Kumar. Disconcerted, Rohit makes his way to the library, seeking some books on Anthony.

There, he is met by the Assistant-Librarian Kushal (Prosenjit Chatterjee), who's actually Anthony himself, reincarnated. Kushal provides Rohit with critical and important details about Anthony's life (which are otherwise unavailable), and Rohit in return brings Kushal back to Kolkata for treatment.

Parallely, with Rohit's and Mahamaya's life, we see Anthony's life as envisioned by Kushal. This covers Anthony's rise as a Kabiyaal (expert in Kabigaan), his various duels against powerful and skilled musicians of his day, including Joggeshwari (Ananya Chatterjee) and Thakur Singh (Biswajit Chakrawarty). Slowly, he is recognized everywhere. He becomes an ardent devotee of Goddess Durga, while composing devotional songs on her for his Kabigaan.

The story of Rohit's success, as well the mystery of the Jaatishwar, are finally revealed as the story concludes majestically.

Overall, the story is a 4.5/5 from me. Great work, Srijit! 

Cast and acting 

Prosenjit reminds us all why he's still the superstar

The casting has been wonderfully done. Prosenjit Chatterjee shows us why he's really the Mahanayak of modern Bengali cinema, flipping back and forth between the young, radiant and confident Anthony, and the old, sickly and tired Kushal. The makeup of Anthony deserves special mention. An air of serenity, together with a musical glow of of devotion, fascination and humility, seems to emanate from Prosenjit as Anthony, which made him appear to be similar to Jesus Christ to me at times. And such marvelous has Chatterjee played the character of Anthony, with a refined and glorious accent, that even his own portrayal of the sickly Kushal seems to be diminished and reduced before that. Thus, Prosenjit beats Prosenjit!

Jishu Sengupta plays his part well enough, although we have Swastika retaining her role of the good, fashionable, way-too-cultured Bengali girl as usual. I am not certainly a big fan of her acting, to say the least. Not that the character requires much acting either, so I guess we can't blame her. Mamta Shankar, as the lovely old granny-type mother, reprises her role beautifully.

Among the Kabiyaals, all the three - Biswajit Chakrawarty (Thakur Singh), Ananya Chatterjee (Joggeshwari) and especially Kharaj Mukherjee (Bhola Moira), are magnificent. I've always been a fan of Mukherjee, and here he simply makes a marvelous job! It's difficult to evaluate the merit of his acting, given that we're nowhere close to seeing his full capacity.

Abir Chatterjee also does a brilliant job here, although he's a guest star, portraying Bodhi, the friend, philosopher and guide of Rohit. Especially after recently watching Abir and Kharaj's acting in the recent release The Royal Bengal Tiger, it's magnificent and fascinating to say the least, to see them reprise such different roles here.

Sound and Videography 

Watch 19th Century Bengal unfold, in Jaasithwar!

Jaatishwar is a musical film, and so we have plenty to say about the quality of music in the movie. And here we happen to see, or rather hear, the genius of another man, Suman Chatterjee aka Kabir Suman. I had never been a big fan of Suman, but the recent string of events and my getting familiar with his musical talent seems to be dragging me on the way of becoming one of his biggest fans. Not only are his compositions magnanimous, but in addition the music he'd synthesized for the movie is spectacular to behold!

After the movie ended yesterday, a silence fell over the entire crowd of viewers. It has been such a powerful piece of art, that it had caused most of us to get in touch with something much greater than the daily life, the true 'World of Will' in the words of Arthur Schopenhauer. 

Srikanta Acharya also reveals his sky-touching musical genius, playbacking Anthony himself at times. The song Jai Jogendrajaya Mahamaya almost made my eyes wet. It's quite possibly the best devotional song I've listened to in the recent times. Be sure to watch the music-video of the song on YouTube!

The videography is very powerful as well, as is normally expected from a film by Srijit Mukherjee. But I'd say, the depiction of colonial Bengal during the time of Anthony has been rendered masterfully, and the depiction of modern Kolkata somewhat fades compared to that. Still, overall it's one of best movies ever released in Bengali!

Merits 

No fear, when Suman is here!

• Prosenjit's wonderful portrayal of Anthony
• Blending of two different times, through an air of love
• The philosophical food for thought, that it gave me
• Superb music by Kabir Suman, do I need to say more? 
• Wonderful story
• Powerful acting by almost everyone
• An artistic piece, crafted with intricate detail 
• Srijit Mukherjee's direction! 

Demerits

• None that I can think of

It'd be a shame if someone like me, lacking the slightest bit of info in terms of movies, would move forward to criticize the movie. 

Credits 

1. Google Images

2. Jaya Cinema, Laketown

3. Wikipedia 

4. The movie itself