Probably the most acclaimed Indian filmmaker internationally after Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen & Adoor Gopalakrishnan is Buddhadeb Dasgupta. Beginning his career with hard-hitting social and political films in the late seventies, he changed track in his middle phase and delved into a kind of deeply personal cinema, influenced by his favorite directors that includes Bunnel, Tarkovsky and Angelopolous. The Bengali film ‘Urojahaj’ (The flight, 2018) falls into the later category, and this particular film is his swansong before he passed away last year. In his last several works, ever since CHARACHAR, he has been fixated on blending his cinema with a mix of dreams, fantasy, surrealism, other worldly characters and social realism. The endeavor has resulted in a kind of cinema that has never been attempted ever in Indian cinema. While some pundits are dismissive of these works, yet the distinctive style of the director shines through in all of them. UROJAHAJ deals with the longing of a simple car mechanic to fly to different places in an aircraft along with his family. He lives in a rural district of West Bengal. One day, quite by chance, he discovers the remains of a World War 2 fighter plane, near his village. In his ignorance, he dreams of reviving the old aircraft, and give wings to his dream of flying. The film traces how even the simple dreams of the have-nots can turn into his nightmare in modern society…Just an 80 minute film that should appeal to most discerning filmbuffs. It is about dreams, aspiration and politics of the state that claim ownership on the resources that ought to be available to every citizen.
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Urojahaj (The flight, Bengali, 2018)
Posted: November 12, 2022 in 100 remarkable Bengali films, 100 remarkable Indian films, Bangla 2010-2020, Bengali films, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Chandan Roy Sanyal, social commentaryProbably the most acclaimed Indian filmmaker internationally after Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen & Adoor Gopalakrishnan is Buddhadeb Dasgupta. Beginning his career with hard-hitting social and political films in the late seventies, he changed track in his middle phase and delved into a kind of deeply personal cinema, influenced by his favorite directors that includes Bunnel, Tarkovsky and Angelopolous. The Bengali film ‘Urojahaj’ (The flight, 2018) falls into the later category, and this particular film is his swansong before he passed away last year.
In his last several works, ever since CHARACHAR, he has been fixated on blending his cinema with a mix of dreams, fantasy, surrealism, other worldly characters and social realism. The endeavor has resulted in a kind of cinema that has never been attempted ever in Indian cinema. While some pundits are dismissive of these works, yet the distinctive style of the director shines through in all of them.
UROJAHAJ deals with the longing of a simple car mechanic to fly to different places in an aircraft along with his family. He lives in a rural district of West Bengal. One day, quite by chance, he discovers the remains of a World War 2 fighter plane, near his village. In his ignorance, he dreams of reviving the old aircraft, and give wings to his dream of flying. The film traces how even the simple dreams of the have-nots can turn into his nightmare in modern society…Just an 80 minute film that should appeal to most discerning filmbuffs. It is about dreams, aspiration and politics of the state that claim ownership on the resources that ought to be available to every citizen.
Rating: 4.1 out of 5