Tollywood’s newfound ‘love’: Old couples, marital intimacy & more
Times of India | 15 February 2025
Kolkata: Contemporary Bengali cinema revolving around the themes of relationships depict a shift from the typical ‘girl-meets-boy' narrative, defying a set format to experiment both in form and content.
At least five feature and short films that were in news in the first two months of the year portray this shift. For instance, in Parambrata Chattopadhyay's ‘Ei Raat Tomar Amar' (ERTA), an elderly couple scrutinises their relationship on the night of their golden wedding anniversary.
A caring husband agrees to liberate his wife in search of a new identity in Aditya Vikram Sengupta's ‘Once Upon A Time in Calcutta' (OUATIC). An orphan's journey through the multiverse in the backdrop of his love life in Abhijit Chowdhury's ‘Dhrubor Aschorjo Jibon' (DAJ) is also indicative of the change. Amitabha Chaterji's ‘Adim' also presents the lesser-explored story of a young couple on holiday trying to rekindle their physical intimacy. Another contemporary presentation is Rayati Bhattacharya's ‘Unclosed' , which is a single woman's serendipitous encounter with her erstwhile partner.
For the record, Tollywood neither displayed any fondness for cinema about elderly couples nor explored the psychology of physical intimacy in matrimony. Yet, directors of ‘ERTA' and ‘Adim' want Kolkata viewers to observe the dynamics of relationships more intimately.
"The challenge lies in not making a conventional family drama with older people and then an extended family and its antics. I have nothing against such films… However, with this particular piece, I envisioned it solely between two people, two individuals, two partners, two lovers, two friends, two foes," Chattopadhyay said.
The premise of ‘Adim', starring Amrita Mukhopadhyay and Judhajit Sarkar, can be a shocker even for discerning viewers. "Tollywood deserves mature cinema. I wanted my film to question the concept of marital intimacy in the context of time, relationships, and human nature," Chaterji elucidated.
For Chowdhury, love is not just about relationships. "The conventional boy-meets-girl narrative often follows a linear structure, but I wanted to explore how love intertwines with fate, morality, and identity," he explained while speaking about ‘DAJ', starring Rishav Basu and Ritwika Pal and that will be presented by director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury. So, he experimented with structure in ‘DAJ.'. He used love as a backdrop to pay tribute to four Bengali artists - Jamini Roy, Gaganendranath Tagore, Bikash Bhattacharjee, and Binod Bihari Mukherjee.
"Shishir (played by Satrajit Sarkar in OUATIC) perhaps symbolises the essence of Kolkata that stands as a silent spectator whilst events – both fortuitous and unfortunate – perpetually unfold. Without being dominating, he also offers glimpses at alternative ways of living and loving," Sarkar said.
On V-Day, actor Rayati Bhattacharya shared ‘Unclosed' -short film starring herself - on social media that manifests a protest against agenda-driven relationships.