Unlike the traditional Bollywood 'boy-meets-girl', this flick has explored a creative angle that is a welcome change in the otherwise formulaic industry whose plots are evident and the songs are totally out of context.
The star of the movie is scriptwriter Supratim Sengupta who has come up with an interesting premise - the love story of a horror writer who is reminded of the good old days by a chance discovery of a music cassette that has ten memorable songs. A very clever wrapper for the conventional Bollywood format where the songs have found a context finally!
There are lot of things going well for this movie - the soundtrack is great, some of the side performances are good and the setting of Kolkata as well as the homes of the two lead characters create a very comfortable scenario as the story rolls out.
The only problem in this movie is that the narration is all over the place, leaving the viewer thoroughly confused. One, there is too much of a shift in the time line from present day to flashback. Two, there are too many incidents (backed by the songs) that come too often creating an unsettling viewing experience. And Three, there are too many places where the multitude of incidents are rapidly rolling out. So for the viewer it is quite a task to keep track of the time, the progress of the plot and the location. All the ingredients of each scene are great but the way they have been sequenced is confusing.
Instead, the director could have opted for a simple, linear narrative, where Acts 1 and 3 are in the present and only Act 2 is totally in flashback.
Setting: Kolkata. Time: Present.
ACT 1 -Context: Writer is unable to progress on the love story due to writer's block.
PLOT POINT 1: Light in the top floor barsati opp gets him to visit the room, bringing back memories of his love. Finds the cassette and stands there thinking of the past (Maana ke hume pyaar nahin in bg - rain sequence). Comes back to his typewriter with the cassette and types out (FILM TITLE).
ACT 2: Flashback as he writes the whole story with incidents and relevant explanations with voice over creating an impression that they are both falling in love with each other.
MID POINT: The accident that turns things around and subsequent drifting of the two lovers leading to (INTERVAL).
PLOT POINT 2: further negative incidents and finally the negative twist in his love, subsequent reactions.
ACT 3: Present day where he is finalizing the draft and tears out the last few pages as it is very unhappy. Novels don't have to reflect real life and real characters so he gives it a positive ending in the novel, that is communicated by --
ENDING: hands over the script copy to the female lead who is in the attic, reads out the positive ending of the novel. (CREDITS)
The star of the movie is scriptwriter Supratim Sengupta who has come up with an interesting premise - the love story of a horror writer who is reminded of the good old days by a chance discovery of a music cassette that has ten memorable songs. A very clever wrapper for the conventional Bollywood format where the songs have found a context finally!
There are lot of things going well for this movie - the soundtrack is great, some of the side performances are good and the setting of Kolkata as well as the homes of the two lead characters create a very comfortable scenario as the story rolls out.
The only problem in this movie is that the narration is all over the place, leaving the viewer thoroughly confused. One, there is too much of a shift in the time line from present day to flashback. Two, there are too many incidents (backed by the songs) that come too often creating an unsettling viewing experience. And Three, there are too many places where the multitude of incidents are rapidly rolling out. So for the viewer it is quite a task to keep track of the time, the progress of the plot and the location. All the ingredients of each scene are great but the way they have been sequenced is confusing.
Instead, the director could have opted for a simple, linear narrative, where Acts 1 and 3 are in the present and only Act 2 is totally in flashback.
Setting: Kolkata. Time: Present.
ACT 1 -Context: Writer is unable to progress on the love story due to writer's block.
PLOT POINT 1: Light in the top floor barsati opp gets him to visit the room, bringing back memories of his love. Finds the cassette and stands there thinking of the past (Maana ke hume pyaar nahin in bg - rain sequence). Comes back to his typewriter with the cassette and types out (FILM TITLE).
ACT 2: Flashback as he writes the whole story with incidents and relevant explanations with voice over creating an impression that they are both falling in love with each other.
MID POINT: The accident that turns things around and subsequent drifting of the two lovers leading to (INTERVAL).
PLOT POINT 2: further negative incidents and finally the negative twist in his love, subsequent reactions.
ACT 3: Present day where he is finalizing the draft and tears out the last few pages as it is very unhappy. Novels don't have to reflect real life and real characters so he gives it a positive ending in the novel, that is communicated by --
ENDING: hands over the script copy to the female lead who is in the attic, reads out the positive ending of the novel. (CREDITS)