Autograph

Rewatched the movie after ten years. Just after watching Manik da's Nayak. Autograph was a revolution in the great depression of Bangla cinema and I admired Srijit for starting the new era. The rewatch at the right maturity made me understand and feel the movie deeply.

Take Satyajit Ray's Nayak and wrap it up with the shooting crew's life around that time- there you get the plot of Autograph. Srijit caught the relay stick of Manik da's legacy so gracefully.

The movie is great, the scenes catch the spectators so deeply. The twist, the love, the hatred- all flourished with glaze on the screen. What is so special to me about this movie goes beyond the movie too. I mentioned in the caption that it initiated a good culture of Bangla movies. Also, the good culture lets many great actors , actresses play roles that matter. I was never a fan of Prosenjit Chatterjee until I watched Autograph. (Later I watched his movies directed by Rituporno Ghosh and I was like, o gem, so you have done so many good parts before, and a real good actor) Prosenjit amazed me, simply! I felt like, man this is his role. This is him. No acting. Nandana and Indranil amazed me too!

Can't but mention the songs. My most favorite lyric is from this movie! The lyrics said as much as the characters. They kept the movie, the sensation of the Nayak alive to this day.

"Don't light a candle for me, the sea of crowd I have seen I have been lost in them, not catching the last train home."

This film, though stemming from a novel idea, was not well-executed. The screen-play lacked conviction and the direction much needed focus. In this film in an attempt to pay tribute to one of the greatest filmmakers/auteurs of all times in the world (Satyajit Ray), Mr. Mukherjee somehow lost track of what (and how much) gravity creating such a tribute demanded. Autograph is immensely rich in its approach to film theory with its subtle references to iconic European directors and films. Sadly though, it ended up being an incomplete and incoherent melange of some unexpected and mostly predictable plot twists. The myriad of sequences remain(ed) fettered in underdeveloped video vignettes devoid of artistic momentousness. This film belied Mukherjee's capabilities as a potential avant-garde Indian filmmaker!

Many fans of Satyajit Ray would recoil in revulsion on hearing that someone is attempting to remake one of the grandmasters movies. Of course 'Autograph' is not a remake of the great 'Nayak' but rather a tribute to it. Having been curious to what a movie like 'Nayak' would look today, I was contented with the brief glimpses of it throughout the movie. The movie didn't attempt to remake the complexities of the Nayak but wanted to pinch on the nostalgia of Nayak lovers.

Prosenjit's rendition of Uttam Kumar's most appreciated role of Arun Chatterjee was portrayed with delicate restraint as he gently snares the audience with the bewitchery of a Superstar! Indraneil Sengupta also performed his role to a viewer's satisfaction though he did lack in consistency at points. Nandana Sen looked somewhat unsure at points but as her role wasn't as complex as the male leads, one can overlook this weakness.

The music of the movie stands out the most. Songs like Beche Thakar Gaan and Amake Amar Moto Thakte Dao are both well penned and placed in the movie.

Having missed the last three decades of Bengali movies, autograph presented me an excellent bridging opportunity to witness the recent development of Bangla Films.

Going by the motto of Satyajit Ray, whose screenplay this movie tried to adopt so desperately, a good movie requires a good script, taut dialogues and definitely good actors. In this movie, unfortunately, script was not original, dialogues were far from natural and other than Prosenjit, everyone else lacked professional acting abilities. Direction lacked conviction in numerous situations. Lack of good dialogues often indulged overlapping conversations of two characters, leading to a very uncomfortable vibe. Character development in some cases were very weak. The part played by Rudraprasad Sengupta needed a very sincere attention, as it was the building block of the character of the hero. Although Prosenjit was very diligent in executing his emotions, the entire sequence with Rudraprasad fell flat on its face.

Only positives that can be taken out of this movie is probably the courageous approach to produce something different out of a known cult classic of Bengali cinema, especially knowing the fact that majority audiences of Bengal hardly ever pardons a movie which dares to modify an established work of art.

Hollow dialogues. Terrible acting. No emotions. Stupid plot.The only good thing is the music. A film that pretends to be intellectual but isn't in any way whatsoever. Just referring to classics doesn't make a film classic.