With this disclaimer, I shall also state that some movies do not yield to "spoilers". Chokher Bali is one of them. I will write about everything that happens in it and yet I wont be mistaken if I say it will not take away from what you will find when you watch it yourself. In spite of all my verbosity, I will not be able to truly expound on it and even if you remember my words when you see it, it will soon make you forget them.
Chokher Bali as a book in Tagore's words, is far more effective in evoking in the reader the emotions the story warrants. The movie is just a "trailer" of the characters' turmoils. The story sure unfolds on screen, but the anguish doesn't! It is complete yet lacking! Full yet hollow! Like Fermina Daza's letters to Florentino Ariza when they fall in love, she falls out, he remains during the time of Cholera! The movie, like Fermina's letters, is an earnest and honest yet pitifully inadequate attempt at grasping and expressing the nuances of Tagore's passion play. I guess every medium has its limitations.
The movie's soulful music by Debajyoti Mishra is to be missed if one were to read only the book. Twice in a row, i have heard music that has stayed looped in my mind long after I have seen the movie and both times the composer has been Debajyoti Mishra! First with his moving renditions in Raincoat, another Rituparno Ghosh movie and the second time around with Chokher Bali.
It was a happy coincidence that some neighbor chose to fry fish in mustard oil for dinner, while I sat watching Chokher Bali! Congruent ambiance!
Raima Sen as Ashalata, the newly wed Bengali bride looks resplendent in her finery! She is at once vibrantly red, more so on the day of Sindoor Khela, gracefully clad in cotton each day and she is glitteringly clinky and chunky gold even as she lies in bed asleep, the Kohl in her eyes a tad smudged along with the red "teep" between her eyebrows her Saree strewn over her bare body and that of Mahendra's. Ashalata is beautiful and at the same time repelling in her naivety! On the other hand is Binodini clad in a creamy, bland saree, devoid of all color in her clothing and her face that seemed to have accumulated and coagulated in her unfulfilled desires!
One of the most beautiful moments in the movie was when Ashalata and Binodini meet for the first time on the Haveli's terrace. Both are fresh from a bath, their hair wet and wrapped in thin cotton towels, a few wet strands escaping onto moist skin, bodies wrapped till the chest in a wet Saree, another towel strewn over their bare shoulders, putting clothes to dry on the clothesline. From behind a wet Saree peeps Ashalata and sees Binodini on the other side putting something else to dry. This is the only time when both are equal....the only ritual of their day when they are out in the open and equal...Ashalata equally a widow minus her Sindoor, color, jewelery, Kohl and Binodini as much a married woman as Ashalata, water drops on her supple skin and the fragrance of a fresh bath. However, at all other times, Binodini is dangerously seductive despite her blandness and Ashalata despite her resplendent finery is as ineffective as Binodini is seductive.
I pity Mahindra. I envy Behari his sorted ways. I am repelled by Ashalata's naivety.
Binodini is at once evil, innocent, selfish, sacrificing, wanting, relenting, fighting, bold, timid, scheming, blatant.....
I am still wanting to know more about why Tagore says he regrets the ending and why he believes he should be censured for it.
One of the most beautiful moments in the movie was when Ashalata and Binodini meet for the first time on the Haveli's terrace. Both are fresh from a bath, their hair wet and wrapped in thin cotton towels, a few wet strands escaping onto moist skin, bodies wrapped till the chest in a wet Saree, another towel strewn over their bare shoulders, putting clothes to dry on the clothesline. From behind a wet Saree peeps Ashalata and sees Binodini on the other side putting something else to dry. This is the only time when both are equal....the only ritual of their day when they are out in the open and equal...Ashalata equally a widow minus her Sindoor, color, jewelery, Kohl and Binodini as much a married woman as Ashalata, water drops on her supple skin and the fragrance of a fresh bath. However, at all other times, Binodini is dangerously seductive despite her blandness and Ashalata despite her resplendent finery is as ineffective as Binodini is seductive.
I pity Mahindra. I envy Behari his sorted ways. I am repelled by Ashalata's naivety.
Binodini is at once evil, innocent, selfish, sacrificing, wanting, relenting, fighting, bold, timid, scheming, blatant.....
I am still wanting to know more about why Tagore says he regrets the ending and why he believes he should be censured for it.
