'Hello Arsi' is an one man show. Yes. I can guarantee people who have worked in it are doing worse when they are working with others. The same actors, the same cameraman, the same editor has not produce any such product till now which can reflect or prove that they possess such aesthetic sensibility as demonstrated in Hello Arsi. Yes, I repeat, it is a director's work, Sambit Mohanty's finest vision that controls everything in the movie. But it is very unfortunate that after all this, the producer's name is mentioned at the top of supplied film brochure which was circulated today at Jayadev Bhawan where the film was screened for public on the occasion of Late Sambit Mohanty's birthday. Even when the crew was felicitated, the producer was first to get hold of bouquet and memento.
People don't know- People who usually remain silent are most noisy in their heads (they constantly talk with themselves/ or may be with their souls) I have heard Late Sambit Mohanty was a moody silent introverted person. And those noise of his head are the dialogues of this movie. 'Hello Arsi' is very well made minimalist movie. The vibe it gives, the feelings it generates are usually common in Iranian European art house cinema. Witnessing the same in an Odia movie was a proud moment for me.
The film has almost zero happenings. Two characters are travelling on a highway in the backdrop of factories, industries, and smoke emitting chimneys, and they are conversing - with each other or might be with themselves. Are they lost, where are they going, what are they doing, what will they do if they ever manage to reach somewhere, and who really are they.. what their story is- we, the audience, like the characters, wonder around cluelessly for meaning in the movie or even outside the movies.
The film has depth, it is highly thought provoking but has two problems in my opinion. The acting was forced. It seems the actors, devoid of previous similar experiences, are clueless about how to handle this type of material. While Prakruti Mishra has shown enough maturity in handling it, Parthasarathi Ray was not able to convince me. Another area which troubled me was the thought-provoking aspect itself. The film was jam-packed with dialogues which doesn't allow audience to stop thinking. I mean even Shakespearean tragedies have occasional comic relief in them. But every dialogue after another in Hello Arsi is quotable and philosophically so rich that it becomes tiring after a while so much so that you lose interest or urge to take a break. Such kind of movies usually have silences in them but Hello Arsi has hardly such silences where you can breathe for a moment or two.
I understand, Hello Arsi was posthumously released. Its director was not there to supervise film's post production. I am sure if the man was alive, it would have been a flawless Odia movie of the state. I am really sad Odisha has lost such a great mind. I wonder how many more great movies a man of such calibre could have delivered.
Congratulations, Sambit Mohanty. Sir, I am sure you have found the chirping bird somewhere far and beyond the highway.
