Utsab

Durga Puja, the most important festival of Bengali's is the worship of 'Shakti' or the divine power and Maa Shakti's four children, Ganesh, Kartikeya, Laxmi and Saraswati. Its an Utsab, festival season, a time to celebrate when families come together to worship, eat, laugh and enjoy the togetherness.

This also happens in the movie Utsab, a tale beautifully woven by Rituparno Ghosh. A director I have come to admire so much, I want to see all his movies.

The matriarch has four children, the eldest, Asit, trying to solve everyones problem is much like lord Ganesha, The second son, Nishit has work related problems that he wants to keep secret, but his wife knows -how she knows it, even he does not know The eldest daughter ,Parul, is married to a rich family, it was an arranged marriage against her wishes, for, she loved her poor cousin (Shishir - he too is a rich builder now ) her past haunts her, her husband taunts her and she thinks her grown up son, who is kind of repeating the history by being attracted to Asit's beautiful daughter, is unaware of her turbulent past. The youngest daughter, Keya, an artist by heart, loves music, married against the families wishes, to a painter and a passionate politician who unfortunately lost out in the politics game and took to drinking. They have immense love simmering for each other which the viewer sees but somehow they fail to - entangled into the web of petty quarrel, they even talk of separation and perhaps seriously so.

The play of emotions of each of these family members, who become your family members as you sit and watch the movie strike many familiar cords. Suppressed emotions hide in shadows and happy ones play with bursts of light. There is always a talk of rain clouds, it even rains, but one does not see it -just feel its aftereffects.

Amidst all this is celebrated a festival. The festival of togetherness, the festival of family bonding, the festival of lights, festival of joy and festival of victory of good over evil -Durga Pooja and Vijayadashmi. While you sit and watch the movie it unfolds like a family reunion, just like the video Joy, Parul's son shoots.

The movie is in Bengali with English subtitles. Knowledge of elementary Bengali helped, but I wish I could understand the finer nuances of the rich language to completely understand it -specially the beautiful song which Shompa, Asit's daughter sings.

I have always enjoyed the films of Rituparno Ghosh--one of the greatest Indian filmmakers. While rewatching "Utsab" recently, I couldn't sit through it without some exasperation creeping in from time to time. The film offers a family drama but lacks the nuances often present in Ghosh's other films. Other than the doomed romance of the star-crossed lovers and "taboo" relationships within the family that create some heart-wrenching moments, the drama mostly devolves into drab sentimentality. The movie has a stellar cast featuring the likes of Madhabi Mukherjee, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Mamata Sankar, Rituparna Sengupta, Pradip Mukherjee and others. With a cast like this, the film looked like a missed opportunity. The writing seemed shoddy, the cinematography unremarkable, and the characters pretty forgettable. The film was carried entirely by a group of actors just doing their jobs.

'Utsab' starts off on a slow and quiet note. In a away it reminded me of 'Gosford Park' in how the characters were introduced. But soon after introduction, the story builds as the quality of the relationship between the characters, their intentions and the secrets of the mansion gradually unveil on screen. Here there's hardly a background score. What the viewer gets to hear are raw sounds within the mansion and surrounding neighborhood. It adds to creating tension within the mansion (where the entire film is set).

Rituparno Ghosh doesn't shy away from mentioning the influences of greats like Aparna Sen and Satyajit Ray. 'Utsab' does have a very Ray-like feel to it especially in its subtlety. At the same time it's very poetic and the Ranbindra Sangeets (poems by the late Rabindranath Tagore) add to the depth of the story. The cultural depiction, such as family interaction and religious ceremonies are well displayed.

The performances are solid. Madhabi Mukherjee is wonderfully restrained. Pradip Mukherjee, Bodhisattva Mazumdar, Alaknanda Roy, Anuradha Roy, Prasenjit Chatterjee and Ratul Shankar Ghosh are very good in their respective roles. However, the scene stealers are Mamata Shankar and Rituparna Sengupta. Both actresses deliver very subtle and nuanced performances and seem to have no problem owning every one of their scenes.

'Utsab' works on multiple levels. It is atmospheric, it can be viewed as a study of characters or a study of a culture. It may not be everybody's kind of cinema but it is among Ghosh's most underrated films.

The movie starts with a young man capturing the traditional "Durga puja" festival in his native home. The whole family joins the festival and inner conflicts of the individual couples start to unveil. Rituporno presented the complex relations, situations that remind us of our own family rituals.

Mixed with tradition and conflicts- this movie ornaments itself as another classic Rituporno watch.

The story revolves around a family get-togather, the family matriarch has called her four adult daughters , and their families to her estate . All of them are inching towards middle-age.

None of the sisters are looking forward to the family reunion as they all are more concerned about their own problems .Furthermore like any large family , every member of the family has his own personal past ,skeletons and demons to confront .The house is teeming with three generations of siblings , and the atmosphere is electric .

the movie does a great job of portraying the human relationships , with each of the characters developed with a lot of care .

A must watch .