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EDITOR'S PICK
`Chowrasta...`
yet another niche outing (IANS Film Review )
In all the films made by director Anjan Dutt, there are three things in common.
Firstly the characters are mostly Bengali and the spoken language is a mix of
English and Bengali, secondly, there are dialogues and more dialogues in each of
the scenes, making the narrative quite verbose. And lastly, his films are made
for a niche audience.
The kind of audience that starts applying their brains and begins analysing the
film scene after scene and build its own assessment or interpretation of the
various metaphors.
The metaphor in this case is `Chowrasta` which not just happens to the be the
name of the film, but also a real life location in the picturesque town of
Darjeeling.
It is a large, open, asphalted area near the top of Darjeeling and is surrounded
by shops, restaurants and small pony stables. A hub which is not just a good
place to sit and relax but also ideal for a leisurely walk around a perfect
setting.
Well, the film is not that perfect.
It is a serious drama, which sees four stories coming together on this `chowrasta`.
"Oh ok", one says to oneself, "so this one is yet another
instance of parallel stories arriving at a single point after traversing
different walks of life."
And among the four stories, one sees Victor Bannerjee, who is lamenting his
wife`s death, a couple (Aparajita and Naved Aslam) that has eloped and is now
wondering whether it was all worth it.
Then there is a middle-aged actress played by Roopa Ganguly, who has her own
troubles to be taken care of and tries to find solutions in the town, only to
see her problems aggravate further. And lastly there is Atul Kulkarni, a
terrorist on the run, who comes up with yet another convincing performance.
Not that these stories aren`t interesting; they do make for a reasonable watch.
It`s just that after entering a theatre, one would want to watch something that
cannot find much justification if seen on the television screen. Also, there has
to be a cinematic appeal about a film because watching "Chowrasta"
gives an impression of watching a short story, which may well have been caught
on TV.
In the recent past, Darjeeling has become a focal point for many movies being
made in India and abroad. "Via Darjeeling", a murder mystery starring
Vinay Pathak, Rajat Kapoor and Kay Kay Menon and "The Darjeeling
Limited", an adventure drama starring Owen Wilson, Adrien and Jason
Schwartzman and Irrfan Khan, are two such films that come to mind.
Well, the fact is none of the two movies made any impression at the box office.
The result can`t be expected to be any different for "Chowrasta",
which is also set in the same town.
Nevertheless, talking about the film`s prospects, it ultimately settles down to
be an outing for a niche audience and in the process truly alienates a regular
popcorn munching junta which loves its regular dose of entertainment. The
result? None of director Anjan Dutt`s earlier efforts like "Bada Din",
"The Bong Connection" and "Bow Barracks Forever" have worked
outside Kolkata.
Chances are quite high that the story will only repeat itself for "Chowrasta"
as well.