Tillotama Shome is luminous in Shadowbox by Tanushree Das and Saumyananda Sahi, that was in Berlin
Illustration/Uday Mohite
Baksho Bondi (Shadowbox, in Bengali, Hindi) was definitely an audience favourite at the Berlin Film Festival. Directed by Tanushree Das and Saumyananda Sahi, it played in the new Perspectives section for first fiction features. Tanushree Das is an accomplished editor (Baksho Bondi, Eeb Allay Ooo! that was at the Berlinale) and Saumyananda Sahi is a well-known cinematographer (the Oscar-nominated All That Breathes, Eeb Allay Ooo!); here he is additionally director, producer and screenwriter. An international co-production between India, France, USA and Spain, the film has a raft of diverse producers, suggesting a “buddy model” of filmmaking.
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Tillotama Shome plays Maya, a housewife living in a Kolkata suburb, who is single parent to two kids: one is her teenage son Debu (Sayan Karmakar), and the other is her husband Sundar (Chandan Bisht), an ex-soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), leaving him mentally challenged, and she does additional care-giving duties for him too. So, while Maya cycles to work in her sari, juggling multiple jobs to pay the bills—including working as a housemaid, doing ironing, gardening, maintaining a chicken pen; she’s even saving up for her own business—Sundar catches frogs for a living, to supply science colleges. He is unable to even attend multiple job interviews she sets up for him, or muffs it.
The film is an ardent tribute to the unflinching nature of the compassion, love, full-time caregiving and sacrifice with which housewives in India and worldwide envelop their families; devoting entire lifetimes to this, always putting themselves last. Tillotama Shome (Monsoon Wedding, Sir) is luminous in a role in which she deeply and convincingly immerses herself; her eyes and tone exuding love and kindness even after the worst setbacks. Despite the endless humiliation and frustration, there is controlled rage and fierce commitment to a marriage, especially a marriage to someone from another community (she speaks Bengali, he speaks Hindi), whom she fought her own family to marry. There is that magnificent moment when she has wrapped ironed clothes in a newspaper and is tying it up with thread, India-style, when a hysterical neighbour woman swears loudly at her husband outside, as he has apparently been peeping into women’s toilets—and Maya, steeling herself for one more session of assuaging public outrage, cuts the thread with finality.
The film could be viewed by some as a pushback for feminism— a financially independent woman smart enough to start her own business, struggling endlessly to keep her relationship with her husband on an even keel—he is even suspected of being involved in a murder. She could have either put her husband in institutional care or left the marriage. Moreover, she is hemmed in from all sides—her own family always taunts her; somebody or other is always complaining about her husband; even her husband wrongly suspects her of having an affair. But she’s made of sterner stuff. Her commitment to her husband is absolute, with only very rare outbursts of controlled anger; and her feelings for him seem like a dogged, tired love. There are many resonant moments, another being when her husband goes missing and someone brings news that the police have arrived, and the body is found. One could be misled into believing that Maya’s husband is dead, as she sits in the street, absorbing this information, patting her own head, as if comforting herself, since there’s no one to do that for her.
The direction, by first time directors and real-life couple Tanushree Das and Saumyananda Sahi, is excellent. Tillotama’s Maya is etched in your heart. Chandan Bisht is effective as Sundar, while Debu is a mixture of innocence and rebellion, a teenager forced to parent his dad. The screenplay, by Saumyananda Sahi, values love and compassion above all, placing an unshakeable faith in the institution of marriage and relationships, regardless of what it takes. His marvellous cinematography, too, is unobtrusive and stays close to the characters. Tanushree Das’ editing keeps us invested in the taut narrative. Gautam Nair’s sound design is meticulous, with superb music by Benedict Taylor and Naren Chandavarkar, including the superb Bangla rap song Shudhu Takar Jonno by Tabib Mahmud and Gully Boy Rana from Bangladesh, and Assamese rap song Xunyo by Assamese rapper Kuldeep Saikia (aka Kool D); Parvati Baul’s Kichhu Din Mone Mone, and more. The producers are Naren Chandavarkar; Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann (director and producer of All That Breathes) and Saumyananda Sahi; Executive Producers are Vikramaditya Motwane, Nikkhil Advani and Jim Sarbh, and Co-Producers are Dheer Momaya, Shruti Ganguly, Sidharth Meer, Dominique Welinski, Isabelle Glachant, Ishaan Chandok, Anu Rangachar, Prashant Nair, Anjali Patil and Tillotama Shome. The women crew includes director and editor Tanushree Das, and production designer Mausam Aggarwal. Don’t miss this gorgeous film.
Meenakshi Shedde is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin International Film Festival, National Award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist.
Reach her at meenakshi.shedde@mid-day.com
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