Utsab - The festival

As I watched 'Utsab' yet again, thought of writing my first movie review about this beautiful piece of art and emotions.

'Chokher Bali' was the movie that made me fall in love with Rituparno Ghosh's works. He embodies meticulous direction and portrays perfectly the panoramic nuances of characters, giving life to their emotions, gloriously shouting out the hidden, intricate feelings; the implicit readings between life's complex paragraphs.

Too many characters yet so distinguishably and admirably defined. 'Utsab' revolves round a family who have got together to celebrate 'Durga Puja', maybe for the last time in their 'pushtaani' house, which they have plans to sell out. The family has come together to enjoy the togetherness, but somehow the threads of their lives are so entangled in the complexities of life that their problems seems to weigh more than their happiness, as it almost always does. The family includes an old mother, 2 married sons with their own kids, 2 married daughters, none of them being actually happy in their lives.

Every character has their own problems, but painstakingly they move ahead and have adapted to them, or at least they try. The togetherness gives them an outlet to their individual frustrations because they know they are going to be heard, by someone at the least. The younger son has almost lost his job due to a strike and lockout in his company. He thinks his wife has no idea about it, but she is well aware of the turmoil that her husband is going through, but prefers silence in spite of she being the most straightforward person in the family. The younger daughter is going through a disturbed marriage, which is on the verge of a separation. The elder daughter too has a disturbed marriage, her old love being the reason for the weathered waters. Against her wishes, she has been married off by her family to a rich guy, her love for her poor cousin lost and embedded in her heart. Her husband taunts her regularly on the issue though she has left the episode much behind in her life. She is under the impression that her grown up son has no idea about the subject of their fights, though he very well is!! And to top it, he also is all set to tread on the same path his mother had put foot on. He is inclined towards the beautiful Shompa (his cousin and daughter of the eldest son in the movie).

The cinematography of the entire movie is just too good!! Everything in this movie presents a typical Kolkata's Bengali family, so if you wish to get a taste or small glimpse of the Bengali culture, this should movie is recommended for you.

Favourite scenes from the movie:
** The very first scene where the grandson is asking the shilpkar about the idols of ganesha and kartika.
** The brothers smoking together and the elder one asking the younger 'but you used to smoke a videshi brand, right??'
** Ashtami pooja scene
** Elder daughters confrontation with her past affair.
** Shompa's walk in the corridor with the tokri of flowers(what a beautiful girl...what a beautiful face....) and her grandma and father in general conversation.
** Shompa's song 'Amolo dhobolo'(her face is dipped in typical beautiful 'bong'ness)
** The vegetable cutting scene between the 2 daughters and elder bhabhi.

PN: If anybody has any other references of Arpita Pal (Shompa) in the movie, pleeease feel free to share. Hunted on the net, but all I could gather was 2 pics and 1-2 other movies she's acted in.