User Reviews

Bengali movie goers always have high expectations from Srijit Mukherjee, who recently won a couple of National awards for his wonderful 'Chotushkone'.Having watched the trailer and the shadowgraphy title before, I knew that this movie would be different. And it was, different that is, from what we normally see in Indian movies. But being unique is one thing and being great is another.

Coming to the positives. Though I prefer hyperlink narratives when the stories are shown concurrently, I do not mean to take away anything from Srijit's storytelling in the movie,where the stories are shown one after the after and the hyperlink narrative isn't exactly a necessity. Performance wise,Anjan Dutt was absolutely marvelous. However, it would be better if Srijit did not make the shower scene at the end of the first story so predictable. Ritwick Chakraborty is always a delight to watch on screen and this movie was no different. And one cannot help praising the way Bingy the dog was shot. And of course, this being Srijit's movie, there are brilliant scenes scattered throughout.

Now the negatives. None of the stories had a lot of substance and depended solely upon the direction. The second and the third sections seemed repetitive, just different expressions of the same feeling. And for a movie in which each narrative is a tragedy, it is very strange that one does not empathize with any of the characters.

Srijit has taken up a unique concept this time, which he should, considering he is one of the few Indian storytellers who is most likely to succeed in creating a great end product. Sadly, not this time:-(

1) The starting of the movie invoked in me two things, one is how wonderful the whole composition was and two, how Srijit did a wonderful thing by promoting this art of shadows which would help the contemporaries to prosper more into the commercial arena. 2) Samson: A perfect representation of a narcissist gone overboard. All of the scenes in this part of the story, I find, very legitimate. Well, actually, nobody could have portrayed the role better than Anjan Dutta. The story is based on his life only & how he is perceived to the outer world. A wonderful story, truly wonderful. 3) Sen/Tree: Am sorry to draw a reference over here but I couldn't help but being reminded of a movie that I had seen when I was a little kid...It was based on a South Indian Folklore where a village girl had the power of becoming a tree & a guy falls in love & then a branch breaks off & the girl becomes half woman half tree & then the movie ends with the guy ransacking the jungle for the lost branch....So over there, I first saw direct depiction of the presence of a soul in Mother Nature. Basically, the same thing is being shown over here. But with no margin. Why? because however 'It was symbolic' Srijit fans might hue & cry, a whitish liquid (similar to human secretion) falling down the branch & then when seeing the the girl is getting away, tantalizing the guy & then the whole natural wrath coming down. Why? Because the tree has a broken heart & is has become a deadly concoction of Devdas + Hulk. I mean seriously?! See, the nature's way of expressing love to us is very gentle & it is devoid of any expectation of any sort of any reciprocation. Definitely, Jagadish Bose was right when he said that trees have heart (pardon me for this bad analogy..:P). But that does not necessarily mean that they would have the same reaction pattern as the human beings. The perception of the human brain is like that. But if some one would argue saying that that the incidents were symbolic, I would say, it was a tad bit more symbolic when it was shown that the branches had actually broken! 4) Sen/Jisshu/ Female Dog: OK, being an avid dog lover & having a female dog at home, all I can say is after an initial hostility towards a newcomer at home, they tend to mix & gel well with the person, especially the Labradors. They are actually famous for being very very human friendly & very rarely do they attack like Sen was attacked. I mean, that actually never happens. & opening of the door & getting out of the car..I mean seriously?! In an advanced car with central locking, is it actually possible?!?! Not only that, if the dog is being taken out out play in the field, it just doesn't matter who accompanies her master as long her master is going. & the dog crying in the veranda...lets just not go into that... 5) Sen/Ritwick: OK...no complaints about Ritwick...but the corpse smiling when he's protecting her body from being violated??!! or Ritwick actually lying down in a similar fashion for marriage?... let's just put that there are similar pictures like Like Minds but it did not have to be this much explicit...

So in total, It was definitely a good attempt but I feel a bit of subtlety by avoiding the unnecessary bold explicit scenes would have added class to the film. Open to comments from everyone! & hope I haven't hurt unknowingly anyone's feelings or sentiments...

A film or cinema is described as the art of simulating experiences, that communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty or atmosphere by the means of recorded or programmed moving images along with other sensory stimulations. Now the reason behind providing this definition is, today I am going to discuss about a film that took me to a state of contentment, a state of speechlessness, that continued several hours after the ride ends. The movie developed a world where the difference between life, death, human, non humans, tree, and even lifeless objects has been extinguished by one common theme: "love". Yes, I am talking about Srijit Mukherji's seventh directional venture "Nirbaak". Starting with 'Autograph', Mr. Srijit has successfully provided Bengali audience an alternative route in the busy traffic of commercial (Dev-Jeet) films, in the form of drama, comedy or thriller. Those movies, based on a strong storyline, excellent acting- direction, and also mind-blowing soundtrack (except 'Mishawr Rahasya'), provided a great entertainment to people of all ages. But not this one.

This time Srijit has taken us to a world where the words are not required to express. In this fantasy drama, every subject (or object) is engaged in an abnormal possessive relationship, whether it is an aged man, a tree, a dog (female), or a lonely morgue-staff. A jazz musician is so obsessed about himself, that he admires his own reflection by kissing in the mirror, makes it look young and beautiful by shopping for new clothes, and even feels sexual pleasure while watching his reflection. A tree is in love with a woman, who finds comfort under its shadow. It fantasizes about her, feels jealous to find her with her boyfriend, and eventually dies when she decides to move away to Bombay. A dog (female) loves her master (literally) so much that she feels threatened when his girlfriend moves in. Remembering the past golden days with her master brought tears in her eyes. She tries to go back to those days; but the master has finally united with his girlfriend, so he does not need a dog to keep company. Watching them together in love brought so much hatred in her mind against the girlfriend, that she eventually attacks her. In another storyline, a staff in a morgue gets infatuated with a corpse. He fantasizes his entire future life with her, starting from dating to marriage to honeymoons. He talks with her inside the cold lifeless room, combs her hair, brings rose for her, enjoy old romantic songs, and finally gives his life while protecting her from the hands of a bunch of sadist hooligans. Each story revolves around an obsessed love, that exceeds the barrier of human language and finally end in a tragic note.

One key point about the film is, it doesn't not need any prior knowledge about the Bengali language to understand it, because people in all over the world feel and express feelings the same way. The film has very few dialogues, and even they are not needed to be translated. The expressions of the actors and the background tune will make up for them. Hats off to Neel Dutt for an outstanding work. The film has no song in-between, but the background tunes to express emotions or situations is simply breathtaking. Anjan Dutt is brilliant, yet sometimes irritating (intentionally) as the aged 'Narcissus'. Jisu Sengupta (the boyfriend and the master) has taken his acting skills to the next level in the second innings of his career. Sushmita Sen, as the girlfriend and the corpse, has acted much better in her first Bengali film than she did in her entire career in the nonsensical Bollywood films. Ritwick Chakraborty has again proved, he does not need any supporting actors to perform. In his 'one-act play', Ritwick introduces us to a lonely persons bizarre, yet compelling fantasy around a dead corpse. His monologue with the corpse "I just wanted a little friendship, not love..... There's no love... No love at all...." gives you goose bumps. Also Anindya Banerjee, in his small appearance as the sadist hooligan leader, creates a lasting impression. But they are all professionals. The two newbies in the film who attracted the audience by their mind-blowing performances and carried the main theme of speechlessness in their shoulders, are the tree and Bingi the dog. The tree, in Srijit's vision, has been able to feel love immeasurable to the girl. And the dog, in her debut performance, has expressed her feelings, tears, insecurities, jealousy, and hatred so natural that even few professionals can develop.

In conclusion, this film is all about possessive abnormal love. This is the first time Srijit has made a film which is not meant for everyone. So, if you watch this film and don't like it, don't worry. You are a perfectly normal person. But if you ever feel obsessed about something or someone, please give it a chance. You might like the film. And if possible, please watch alone. Because somehow if you were able like the film, a little whisper from your best friends or the loved ones would feel like a thorn in your ears. Finally like it or not, everyone at least agree to the point that Srijit, in this film, has walked to an uncharted territory that no other directors has ever dared to enter. So like him or not, at least give him that much respect.

1) One person loves himself, that doesn't mean that he have to kiss himself in the mirror. To show his love the director doesn't have to show him naked, and also doesn't have to use 'jerk off scene' in the movie. If one really loves himself he would go for exercise or do something that he loves to do, and would have a healthy lifestyle, instead of consuming alcohol at morning. Its showing nothing but 'hate' for his own life. A totally worthless story and a very week attempt also. 2) Here the director tried to show a relation between the two different entity tree and a woman. Good thinking and again worthless attempt and very bad direction. First of all why the hell susmita sen is here??? There was nothing special at this role. Secondary to show Tree's love, the director doesn't have to show so much useless staffs. That would be better if those things would have been an abstract one. And the death of the Tree was also very cheap attempt. 3) Dog doesn't behave like that… Not at this extent. In the name of "TRANSFORMING LOVE" the basic characteristics of the nature and human beings are violating. 4) This story is very well known and we have seen this story before in lots of movies. It is not the issue. The issue is, the director destroys the story, the love, by squeezing it forcefully again and again. There is nothing but some unnecessary things and some completely madly behaved human. 5) And the most important part is the director have done these stuffs In the name of "Salvador Dali". The intellectuality level and the abstract thinking of his painting cannot be compared with this Worthless movie. This hurts the most.

Nirbaak is an awesome film by Srijit Mukherji, which he dedicated to Salvador Dali that represents the surreal essence of the film. The movie shouldn't be compared with the real life because it represents much of a surreal concept. It shows different aspect of sexuality and romance. Every romantic relationship in this movie moves from the attraction, infatuation and love to the worship, obsession and death just like the seven shades of love from the ancient Arabic literature. The story is written wonderfully based on five romantic plots. Anjan Dutta has pulled his auto sexual character very well. His signature dialogue which I liked most was an advice to Shusmita Sen "love own self for a change." Of course Shusmita doesn't get what he was talking about. The dialogue is a best advice for any lonely person in real life. One of the strange and dreamlike romantic sequences is where the tree falls in love with Shushmita Sen. It dreams of her; get jealous of her boyfriend and the most bizarre sequence is when it emits its semen, even over Jishu. Shushmita and Jishu pulled a normal heterosexual romance but when they finally decide to live together, they come across another enemy of them. Jishu's pet dog fell in love with. I have said it again; this is not a regular movie. Of course animal doesn't act like this way but you have to get its surreal spirit, like a Dali painting, or like a dream. The final romantic plot was a morgue worker falls in love with Shusmita's dead body. Without using the necrophiliac sexual intercourse the director chose some popular Hindi songs to relate with the situations of his love for the women. His love for this dead body grows much to marry her and in the end he dies for her corpse. Each romantic intercourse has its fallout and sometimes actual death or metaphorical death. I liked the movie because the director didn't emphasize much on visualizing the sex sequences like other Bengali art films and it showed the different aspects of sexuality and romance. At last I would say the movie has an amazingly rich story.