Jatishwar

Jatishwar is a teleportised tapestry of past and present, chronicling the lives of three Anthony-s: the Portuguese kobiyal from the annals of history, his reincarnated Bong avatar and a standard Petrarchan loverboy prototype. Despite few editing glitches, Srijit successfully maintains a a sense of symmetry and proportional coherence between the two separate time zones because of the uniquely balanced narrative structure. The performances are displeasurably inconsistent. Jishu, the contemporised Anthony Firingee, is a hapless Gujju in pursuit of a militantly highbrow Bongo-lolona, played by an unconvincing Swastika. Although Jishu is impeccably immaculate, she is insubstantially unimpressive in her snooty, uppity, pseudo-activist persona and the diametrically opposite demure Saudamini. Rahul and Riya are like the dispensable extras of an item number, and Miss. Sen's zombie-dialect doesn't help her cause. Abir, Jishu's faithful hanger-on along with Mamata Shankar, Swastika's candidly uncritical and doting mother, leave a healthy impression, not to mention the brief cameos of Kharaj and Ananya. The humour is at times juvenile and often, self-deprecatory, especially the scenes featuring Bong rockers, for example: Sidhu flipping through the pages of 'History of Rock Music' and Rupam giving tutorials on growling. The titillating seduction of Bangla-Kalchaar-Brigade forms the nucleus of the Srijit-canon. Evoking the 19th century Kobigaan era and the consequent stimulation of Bangaliyana reiterates his mastery on the art of emotive manipulation. Kabir Suman, the maverick musician, does a phenomenal job with soul-stirring lyrics and unerring notes. The interjectory, spon-feeding voice-over explaining tappa, tarja, kheur, etc almost sounds like Prantik Sohayika-aided oversimplification. The bibliographical references of books featuring Anthony Firingee also reflects a conceited self-advertisement of background research, as does the Spark Notes-expounding appraisal of para-neuro-psychology. The use of graphic novel iconography like speech balloons and hard-subbed texted introductions to the characters are innovative experiments. The frequent use of steadicams, flycams and hand-held cameras is nothing new, in fact, the practice being overused and abused over the last couple of years. Finally, Bumba Da. He is a misfit in the Christ-meets-Shanti Gopal attire with the dubbed voice of Srikanto Acharya. But as the balding incarate Version.02, Kushal Hazra, he is blemishless. Erratic with fits of delirium, constantly haunted by turbulent memories and grappling with reality in a desperate attempt to liberate himself from the captivity of his unobtrusively circumspect dual identity - Prosenjit delivers a stellar performance, reminiscent of his restrained acting prowess in understated roles, which includes films like Dosar and Sob Choritro Kalponik.