Biplab Sen (Prasenjit) and his much younger, new colleague Bhaskar (Satyam Bhattacharya) are on a trip to the high mountains to finalize a plot for a hotel project on behalf of their company. They are like chalk a cheese, Sen is mature, confident and in control of the situation, while Bhaskar is edgy, restless and impatient. In many days and nights they spend together on the trip, their relationship starts with contempt towards each other, but slowly warms up with each confessing to his own share of problems and explaining the philosophy of life. We are given to understand that Sen takes such trips to temporarily run away from his manic depressive wife, and Bhaskar has taken this trip to bolster the courage to introduce his wife from the north-eastern states to his super conservative family.
On the eve of their departure back to Kolkata, tragedy strikes. Young Bhaskar succumbs to a cardiac arrest and dies, leaving Sen distraught and unsettled. Whilst Sen does the needful to fly down the dead body of his colleague back to Kolkata, he avoids meeting Bhaskar's family and returns home. Sen bottles up his feelings inside, takes leave from his office and stays home with his unstable wife, and shares no details with her, until one day he discovers that Bhaskar's wife had given birth to a baby girl and was accepted into the latter's family. He realizes why Bhaskar hadn't mentioned about the fact that his wife was so close to childbirth and decides to go and meet Bhaskar's family, thus confronting his demons.
Nirontor is an arthouse production by Prasenjit himself, directed by Chandrasish Ray. It's slow, languid pace and brevity of the story balance the depth of human emotions, relationships and reactions to situations that arise in the film. Prasenjit is mellow and sensitive in his portrayal of Biplab Sen, a man who has had to deal with his wife's disintegration due to the inability to conceive. He uses the project tours as an opportunity to escape from a suffocating marriage, but attempts to rebuild the bridge with his wife after the tragedy reveals to him that whilst individuals may perish, life continues through others connected to them and must be lived responsibly. Satyam Bhattacharya makes a sound impact. Anita Majhi as the depressive wife battling her condition as well as the growing distance with her husband is sensitive too.
