ATANKA (1986)

Films depicting contemporary reality without compromising is a rare commodity. That is why Tapan Sinha’s ATANKA hits you very hard. I can’t recall any Bengali film depicting the loss of Bengali heritage and high culture and constantly cautioning us about it in such a forceful manner as ATANKA. “Bangalir hathe chaku, bangalir hathe khoon, era kara?” – this dialogue from the film laments the decline of the community where political killings have become rampant.

In this film, an upright teacher (Soumitro Chatterjee) is witness to a murder committed by one of his ex-students (Sumanta Mukhopadhyay). The local goons start terrorising the teacher…the film highlights the dubiousness of the political class and how they misuse the local youths and the police. Soumitro Chaterjee is brilliant as the oppressed teacher and his expression with fear written all over exemplifies the nuanced performance one has come to associate with the veteran actor – a favourite of all Bengali arthouse directors. The supporting cast includes Prasenjit, Manoj Mitra, Anil Chaterjee, Arijit Guha and others.

Rating: 4.4 out of 5

 

 

ADALAT O EKTI MEY

A school teacher (Tanuja) goes on a vacation with her friends. The compartment of the train they board has a group of four unruly youths who indulges in drunken revelry. What happens when one of ’em misbehaves with the school teacher? 

In films like Adalat O Ekti Mey (AOEM), TS showcases an honest cop (Manoj Mitra) fighting against the corrupt system. In several of his works, TS has a strong character fighting the ‘criminal’ system (AOEM, Boidurjer Rahasya, Sagina Mahato, Sagina, Sabuj Deeper Raja, Atanka, Antardhaan, Ek Doctor Ki Maut, Wheel Chair). Several of his films portray the deterioration in the system wrought by politicians (Apanjan, Atanka, AOEM). 

The film is also a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of the middle class Bengali society. The romantic lead (Bhishnu Guha Thakurtha), an artsy inclined individual deserts his lady-love (Tanuja) when she falls prey to rapists. 

One of the earliest Indian films to deal with the theme of rape along with ‘Insaf ka Tarazu’ back in the 80s, this is indeed a memorable film directed by veteran Tapan Sinha. Both Tanuja in the lead role, and Manoj Mitra as a tough cop is simply brilliant. Nirmal Kumar had a supporting role as a Defence lawyer of the criminals.

Rating: 4 out of 5

WHEEL CHAIR

Tapan Sinha is concerned with human lives and their struggles with adversity (Nirjan Saikate, Wheel Chair, Atanka, Khoniker Athithe, Antardhaan). ‘Wheel Chair’ is the fourth in a quartet of films on doctors by Tapan Sinha after ‘Arohi’,  ‘Khoniker Athithe’ and ‘Ek Doctor Ki Maut,’ if we exclude ‘Admi aur Aurat’ that highlighted the lack of medical facilities in rural Bengal/india. The central protagonist is an America returned wheel-chair ridden doctor (Soumitra Chaterjee) who runs a medical care facilities for destitute and poor of the society.  Several sub-texts knitted skillfully into the central theme manages to weave into a cohesive narrative. The situations, at times, appears a tad contrived and used to add to the empathy of the viewer. Sinha uses some dream sequences too, probably for the first time in his four decade long filmmaking career.

An injured victim of a rape (Laboni Sarkar) develops affection for the physiotherapist (Arjun Chakraborty) , a wealthy elderly man (Manoj Mitra) donates money for the healthcare centre and not to his young adulterous wife before dying, an abandoned spastic (Kaushik Sen) residing for three years in the centre showing improvement in his condition are some of the inmates featured prominently. The greedy board of Governers especially Haren Ghosh (Arijit Guha) wants to build a Nursing Home on that same plot.  How the doctor manages to keep alive his mission of providing healthcare to the needy of society form the centrality of the film. The last frame reveals that it is based on the life of a real doctor serving selflessly in a Kolkata hospital.

Certain scenes seemed incongruent in the film. When the neurological centre was so starved of funds, how could the inmates be shown celebrating Diwali on such a grand scale?

Rating:     3.75 out of 5