MEGHNAD BODH ROSHYO -- a review

MEGHNAD BODH ROHOSHY -- a review

Anik Dutta has always surprised us with his penchant for extraordinary themes bordering on fantasy. ‘Meghnad Bodh Rohoshyo’ is certainly a departure from all that fanciful imagination.

The story is about the sudden disappearance of a renowned writer, Professor Ashimabho Roy (Sabyaschi Chakraborty) who has made quite a ripple in the literary circle with his science fiction. His second, but very young wife Indrani (Gargee Roy Chowdhury), a famous actress, is suitably alarmed and engages in finding out the truth behind his disappearance with her director friend, Kunal Sen ( Abir Chatterjee). Earlier we were introduced to a team of the couple’s associates at the writer’s book launch and also at his birthday party. Evidently, they all have secret lives that the couple is blissfully unaware of and all seem to be somewhat connected to Ashimabho’s activities as a youth during India’s struggle for independence.

During the first half of the movie we are in the throes of a collage of the writer’s turbulent past life and his present, as a successful man till he disappears. In the second half, the police and sleuths are engaged in working on the jigsaw puzzle to find him and the culprits behind his disappearance.

All said and done, I cannot say that it was an engaging movie as I felt that even though the interweaving of the tales was done cleverly, it was certainly done in a haphazard manner. There were a lot of loose ends that needed to be tied up in the end. It was rather finished off in a hurry as the movie was getting too long-winded. The mystery that was intensifying got lost somewhere in the alleys of silly dialogues between the investigator and his partner. The serio-comic handling of the police force to unearth the truth behind the matter also diluted the weight of the issue and the pace of the movie kept faltering. It failed to hold my attention and, needless to say, the end seemed very predictable.

However, Sabyasachi Chakraborty was most suited to his role with his easy-

going manner and certainly excelled in emoting appropriately as the situations demanded. Gargee Roy Chowdury looked charming but seemed too self-conscious with her mannerisms. If she could drop her preoccupation with trying to impress, she could perhaps be more appreciated. Abir Chatterjee was confident and comfortable with his youthful charm but just managed to hang around
.
Indeed, Bikram Chatterjee, as the writer’s son, deserves credit for his intense performance although, sadly, he has messed up his acting career at the moment. The rest of the actors don’t seem to deserve any comment. They seemed more wooden than the doors of an old building.

Music by Debojyoti Mishra was lost in the cacophony, unless that was the intention. The other Tagore songs did not do much for the movie and could be done without.

Anik’s brilliance with the dialogue is common knowledge. It does flow with ease. But his choice of genre this time was just kind of a fiasco. If you ask me, I think, he should let his imagination run wild and take us to distant lands of fables and fairy tales. He certainly is a champion at that but, maybe, he should leave ‘mysteries and thrillers’ in the hands of better masters. I’m not taking any names here though.

I would say, the movie is ‘watchable’ but don’t expect too much from it.

Copyright © Dola Dutta Roy