Asha Jaoar Majhe

'Asha jaoar majhe' (Labour of love) was not only a mesmerizing cinematic experience, it was like watching a poetry written by a camera. This film just put a whole new dimension of Bengali art-house cinema. A eighty-minute film without any words didn't surprise me, what surprised me was that I merely felt its absence. Director Aditya Bikram Sengupta's this celluloid sculpture has shown that visual storytelling is not only just a modulating factor, it can stand on its own. This film also pointed out that to depict that level of detailing you have to be honest with your story. Talking about acting, their (Basabdatta and Ritwik) hardest job was to not "act". That's why the whole movie was like I was following and observing two people. Though the film was about disappointment and despair of daily life, it also gave us a optimistic perspective at the end.

I chanced upon the Iranian indie filmmaker Keywan Karimi's short film "Zan Va Shohar Karega" (The Adventure of the Married Couple) a few years ago. In spite of the obvious likeness, I prefer Aditya Vikram Sengupta's directorial debut.

The beauty of this film lies in the little things - the poetic collage of images ordinary lives are made of; artfully rendered and helmed with nuanced realism - every frame relatable, every moment pure, doused in everything Bengali.

Basabdatta Chatterjee outdoes the ever so brilliant Ritwick Chakraborty, so gracefully subtle in her expressions.

Arthouse films tend to be pretentious, mostly unappealing to us commoners, trying too hard to please global audiences. Asha Jaoar Majhe is a rarity; an unequivocal feat of grounded filmmaking.

A movie that teaches us the value of love, teaches us how a couple can manage to find love in adverse circumstances in an age where we file divorces even if our food habits do not match.

In this age where love is rare and relationships do not last a year, the movie is like a commandment sent via the hands of this new director on block. This is a movie that doesn't tell a new story but stays with you many days after you have watched it, like the advice you got from your father in your childhood but never cared to take them seriously.

The movie spans for a single day, but tells the story of a lifetime. A story where both the husband and wife works but in opposite shifts of a day, and find time for each other only for five minutes in the whole day when the husband returns from work and the wife has to leave for her workplace. This precious five minutes (captured splendidly on screen like) seem like a beautiful dream to them, in the otherwise sordid and solitary routine of their daily life.

In this dialogue less movie, Aditya Sengupta depicts grim condition and awkward work shifts of a married couple. In this 74 minutes film everything is visually narrated with precision from the beautiful yet crowded back lanes of Kolkata to their struggle. "There is an internal beauty in silence": Asha Jaoar Majhe definitely symbolizes that. Asha Jaoar Majhe won two national awards in 2014. The film is available on Prime Video. Also watch Aditya's another minimal gem "Jonaki" on Netflix.

Awesome Camera work with marvelous background score..uff that sehnai!