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Memories and the man

The kick surely lies in a Bollywood sex bomb being tamed into a middle class Bengali housewife but Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Kaalpurush (Memories in the Mist) has more than just that.

Kaalpurush, which has waited for more than a year to hit the theatres, is different from the rest of Dasgupta’s festival-touring films.

Here’s a neat story around characters rooted in reality. The twist is in the non-linear storytelling, which is more interesting than a deglamorised Sameera Reddy.

To cut a long story short, Sameera and her Bollywood co-star Rahul Bose are a dysfunctional couple with two adorable kids and a dog at their modest home in a Calcutta lane (made real by Samir Chanda’s flawless sets at Bharat Laxmi Studios).
Rahul tries to reconnect with his long-lost father (Mithun), while Sameera dreams of breaking free of her stifling domestic life. He knows she is having an affair behind his back; she pities him for never getting a promotion at work.

Rahul clings to the simple joys of life and memories of his father. The back-and-forth movement of the story and the smart arrangement of sequences make Mithun a mystery man — he could be dead, alive, or just a figment of his son’s imagination…

Kaalpurush begins with Mithun tailing Rahul as he returns home from work, then goes back to his blissful world with wife Laboni until all hell breaks loose when a woman from his past (Sudipta) resurfaces to relive a passionate moment.

The betrayal drives Laboni out of home, young Rahul in tow. While a devastated Mithun becomes a footloose traveller, Rahul bears the scar for the rest of his life. Back to the present, father and son come face to face to heal old wounds.

The father-son relationship may be the core of Kaalpurush but it’s actually the women who form the framework. It’s a world where a man understands a man better, and the women are either insensitive or ambitious. If Laboni doesn’t give Mithun a second chance, Sameera walks out on Rahul to chase her writing career.

Mithun no longer needs to make an effort to breathe life into complex roles. The faraway look in his eyes and the sadness in his smile say more than words.

For Rahul, it’s how he says what he says that leaves a mark. The Bengali diction, the Calcutta accent — Rahul has got his dubbing just right. Sameera doesn’t spring a surprise — her changed attire and dubbed voice (by Bidipta Chakraborty and Soma Chakraborty) help her sail through.