Life is an endless journey of waiting for love to happen, to find itself again, to be rescued from the debris of a relationship gone sour, and to prove that it exists, and can thrive without a name, a face, or even a voice, just through secret e-chat sessions between two young people hungry, first to reach out and then, to belong. For the single maid Moni Pishi who fills her lonely hours doing petit point embroidery, it is waiting for that telephone call that will tell her why the anonymous, faceless caller with his golden honey voice stopped calling one day and never called again. For the lonely, cynical but likeable Ranjan, life is about waiting for his lost love to turn around and say ‘Lets get together again’ and take away the emptiness of his terrace apartment where, between his affair with the Sensex, he keeps sipping his glass of Chivas Regal.
For Parumita, love is a feeling of deep hurt that stops her from telling her estranged husband that she still cares. She tells him through tiny gestures like an impromptu birthday party, lighting up his flat with candles and gifting him with a book of poems by the Persian poet Rumi. She fills her empty hours cleaning the lenses of a camera she no longer uses. For the no-nonsense, cold-blooded and super-confident industrialist Mehra, love is an eternal wait for his wife Shalini to come to terms with her daughter’s death in an accident, instead of blaming him for the tragedy. For Abhik, the rough-and-tough police officer who is “the Boy in the Box” to his e-chat friend raat-jaga-taara, love mutates from disillusionment about love to the discovery that love exists everywhere if one only knows how, where, when to find it, and in whom. He realises that it always leaves a heavy residue of pain behind. For Brinda Ray-Menon, whose pretty and open face veils the determination and daring of an investigative television journalist, love is a wonderful feeling that makes her rejoice in the paintings of Frida Kahlo, or feel sorry for that red kite trying to free itself from the wires across her terrace. She revels in the company of the e-chat friend she has never seen, does not know him yet feels the warmth of his company come across the Net.
Technical Expertise
Deeply embedded in the city of Kolkata, Aniruddha Roy Choudhury’s Antaheen knits four love stories into a collage that defies popular notions about man-woman relationships and redefines love in terms of contemporary life in an urban metro filled with laptops, television-cameras and screens, high-end cell phones, e-mails, television screens, golf clubs and parties, alongside Fida Kahlo’s paintings, Jim Morrison links and skyscrapers under construction used as hideouts for smuggled arms. All this is captured brilliantly by Abhik Mukhopadhyay’s magic camera, Chandril and Anindo’s romantic lyrics and Shantanu Mitra’s low-key, subtle strains of music. Arghya Kamal Mitra’s editing is as lyrical and low-key as are Roy Choudhury’s screenplay and direction. Shyamal Sengupta’s dialogue is deceptively simple, holding worlds of meaning within them. The acting makes Antaheen complete. Radhika Apte as Brinda runs away with the top prize and Kalyan Roy almost catches up. Incidentally, this is a debut for both. Sharmila Tagore as Moni Pishi would have shone better had she managed to rid herself on that signature sing-song note at the end of every line. Rahul Bose is his usual self, serious, no-nonsense, his hard outside hiding that romantic inner self. Shouvik Kundogrami as Mehra and Mita Vashisht as his forever-on-the-edge wife stand out in brief cameos. Aparna Sen does not need much homework for Paromita though she has not done this kind of character before. She looks a bit jaded though.
Can the new information highway change the way we perceive love? Or does it assume a magic that can only be touched with the mind? We neither know nor care because, unwittingly, we have stepped into this magic web of journeys to participate in, or find a bit of ourselves reflected in the endless, and at times tragic journey of waiting - to love, to die, to live and to feel.
Verdict
The film deserves four stars - for direction, for cinematography, for music and for acting. Well done, Roy Choudhury.
