Unishe April

Unishe April (Nineteenth April) highlights the complications of a relationship between a famous professional dancer and her daughter. This is one of the best films directed by Rituporno Ghosh during his early career. The acting of the movie was splendid and you would sense the special aroma Rituporno put in his films.

Compared to modern dynamic films, Rituporno uses a static style. He would take much less shots, optmial scenes, but EACH scene will attract the spectator like a magnet, however simple that scene is.

Aparna Sen putting 'tip' on her forehead, receiving phone, family taking dinner together- these very simple yet detailed scenes stay with me after the movie ends. The conversation and complications all were perfect. There wasn't a time when you could pick a side, the mother's or the daughter's, it was so compelling.

It will stay as my all time favorite one!

Sarojini(Aparna Sen) is a famous dancer whose profound dedication to the dance-floor causes the widening of a cleavage between her daughter and herself following death of her husband. Is she happy with her career and success? Has she found a substitute in the character of Dipankar De?

Aditi(Deboshree Roy) is a young doctor making all possible preparations to build a home away from her celebrity dancer-mother. She is convinced that Sarojini has forgotten all about her father since he died about 20 years ago. Correct isn't she? In this world her mother is wrong and her father was wronged. Will this ICE ever break? The film starts in the morning and ends the following morning.The film starts on 19th April. 19th April- the day when Aditi's father and Sarojini's husband died.

It's a movie which shows how little resource is needed to make a good movie. Almost the whole movie happens in a house. With only a few actors (only three prominent). It shows the capability of a talented writter and director "Rituporno Ghosh".

This movie gives you an insight of a scattered family and the way the director has projected this upon it's audience is absolutely amazing, though I felt like the crying of Debashree Roy was too much but the acting was right up to the mark.

It gives you a sense of care for your family even if there's hatred filled in for it and somehow we all want a happy ending and closeness for the characters.

Unishe April (1994): Brief Review -

Huge fan of Autumn Sonata (1978), but this wasn't close. Rituparno Ghosh-what a genius filmmaker, and I have no second thoughts about it. This was just his second film, yet he impressed so many critics as well as the National Award juries. If someone called him India's Ingmar Bergman, then I wouldn't have minded, because he came so close to cracking similar themes of storytelling. Autumn Sonata, one of Bergman's last films, was a conversational classic and carried a very experimental narrative for its time. It explored strained relationships through complex theories, leaving viewers stunned with the director's vision. Ghosh's Unishe April is a sort of remake of that film, with of course a few changes suiting Indian traditions and social norms. Unlike Bergman's flick, which had several other supporting characters playing pivotal roles in the narrative, Unishe April mainly focuses on the mother-daughter's strained relationship and scattered bond. It becomes too personal and lacks an intricate structure in its narrative, thereby distancing itself from the Swedish film. That's actually the major issue, because you have nothing else to support the storyline. It gets stuck at one point and takes longer than expected to reach the final confrontation. Many sobbing and frustration scenes are stretched up to two minutes or so, making it unnecessarily lengthy and slow. On the positive side, we have some power-packed performances by Aparna Sen and Debashree Roy. Both are simply outstanding-their expressions and conversations are brilliant and unforgettable. The supporting cast is fine too, and the technical aspects fit well in their places. Rituparno Ghosh's film works as a whole, but it's just that the hype around it was too much, and I found it underwhelming in comparison.

RATING - 6/10*

By - #samthebestest.