It’s
been ages since a meaningful Bengali film was made, where art and philosophy
blended seamlessly. Shobdo (Sound) is
indisputably one of the greatest Bengali films made in recent times. Such a claim might sound too
lofty, but certainly not without foundation. Why is Shobdo unique?
·
1. The
trend of films on the film industry has taken over Tollygunj for quite sometimes
now. While most filmmakers have stuck to the major players (directors, actors
or musicians), none has thought it necessary to bring to the fore the
technicians. The foley-artistes’ indispensability has never been recognized.
And am certain, even cine-lovers have barely ever spared a thought on them. Kaushik
Ganguly’s Shobdo makes out of the ignored
foley-artiste a hero, and hammers home the fact that without him films would
have been but unreal. For, without sounds, verisimilitude cannot be achieved. A
fact, which I am sure, has eluded many till date.
·
2. It’s
been really long since any Bengali film has delved deep into the psyche of an artiste,
and has represented creative madness with such compassion. Tarak’s obsession
with his art segregates him from reality much to the disconcertment of his wife
and psychiatrist, but Tarak is so overpoweringly fascinated with his art that
he fails to separate his art and reality. For him, his art (the world of
sounds) becomes reality. Without being preachy, the film floats a profound
philosophical discourse on artistry, creative impulse, and how art might
enslave life. It might be painful for those to whom the artiste is personally
consequential; but, such coalescence of art and life is necessary for creation
to approximate perfection.
·
3. Shobdo, therefore, becomes a very
refined commentary on filmmaking and its penchant to approximate the reality it
represents. The re-creation of sound effects demands of the foley-artiste a
very alert ear for the various sounds, no matter how subsonic they are ---- the
fine difference in the little ‘thud’ sound made by an empty cup and a cup
filled to the brim; the difference of the sound of footsteps on a wooden
staircase and the sound made by boots on a gravelled path, etc. Shobdo makes you feel that if a good
screenplay is the backbone of a good film, the foley-artiste’s sound effects are
like blood that runs through the arteries and veins of that screenplay. The behind-the-scene
reality of a ‘show’ is unravelled by Shobdo
remarkably.
·
4. The
film, while celebrating creative madness, romantically evokes the superiority
of the sounds of nature to human speech. The tearful psychiatrist wonders after
a night of hard-partying the general inconsequentiality of human speech, which
is more often than not, nonsensical and insensitive, and mostly meaningless.
Sound waves are not sounds, but mere signifiers which the human brain interprets
meaningfully, as it is trained to. While language often dominates in this world
of sounds, the ‘mere’ sounds too are no less significant, no less meaningful
than language. Kaushik Ganguly has commendably touched such depths without
being preachy anywhere.
· 5.
The
film also negotiates with ideas of ‘normality’ and that which is dubbed ‘abnormal’
by the mainstream. Tarak’s strangeness (his inability to interpret human speech
and his obsession with other kinds of sounds) is eventually reclaimed as
another way of looking at things, a perspective (largely auditory, if I may
call it so) which is not available to the majority. Yet, Tarak has to come back
to the mainstream of life; so, he is finally sent to a rehab. The ear-splitting
sound of the ambulance struggling over a sandy beach, acquires a different meaning
altogether in the closing scene. Is it a signifier of Tarak’s protest as he
stares on silently with a blank look in his eyes? By the time the end-titles
roll, the audience becomes much too aware of all the other sounds they hear,
apart from the dialogue.
Ritwick
Chakraborty’s marvellous performance would definitely fetch him numerous awards
and accolades in the coming year, although it’s surprising that he has missed
the national award. Raima and Srijit are good, if not brilliant. Churni would
have scored really high had she not given the same performance in numerous
other films before. Victor Banerjee is quite redundant to the plot.
Kaushik Ganguly is
certainly emerging as one of the greatest filmmakers of contemporary Tollywood.
The uniqueness of his subjects is commendable and is a great relief from the
tear-jerking sentimental middle class dramas or nerve-racking action-packages
that have almost destroyed the Bengali film industry. Shobdo is a film from which other promising filmmakers might draw
inspiration and abandon tested ground, and tread on un-trodden path. By taking
the ‘road not usually taken’ Kaushik Ganguly deserves two-thumbs-up!
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