Antarmahal

Believe me - had the climax been anything less than what it was, I definitely would have thought much less of the rest of the film - I would have thought it deliriousness coming from Rituparno going by how his latest films (at least the latest few I have seen) touches on this very same theme one way or the other.

I have just watched Antarmahal, and notwithstanding the above, true to his genius, Rituparno Ghosh brought forth such a climax, that I cannot help feeling that maybe the rest of the film was still justified coming even from him.

The entire film was laden with female sexuality, her body, her spirit, and the maltreatment of all these as it was supposed to have been practiced 100s of years ago in Bengal.

The film was good as is usual of him, but while watching the film, I had started complaining that all his films somehow touches on this same subject - and it gets treated in his trademark way - and all this becomes monotonous, and sometimes even ghastly given the subject. Once or twice, the effect is fantastic, but one really cannot go on digesting the same pattern as often as Rituparno seems to shelve it out. I was thinking why on earth does he not think of the thousand other sensitivities lying out there for him to exploit?

But the climax of Antarmahal balances it all. All in the last 10/15 minutes. And indeed, these last minutes do propel the film in dimensions other than just female sexuality, mind and body. Art and the artist were hailed. I'm sure - the last two or three scenes, including the showing of the goddess' face to the foreign painter, the brief shot of Soha Ali Khan after the idol was opened publicly, and finally the dolls with the sacred flames lit in the last scene - all these will stay with me for a while.

Now, after being done with it all, and looking at the film from a perspective, I find myself asking about the acting - who acted best, et all. And somehow, I'm unable to answer that. No one seems to have got such dramatic chances of acting. Or maybe everyone got equal shares. I'm not sure. At first thought it seemed that the film did not provide much chances of such acting. But then, it is very obvious that a film like this cannot be carried without good acting. And yes, all through the film none of the actors ever felt out of themselves.

Maybe this is truly good direction - coupled with good acting from all - as a result of which, none of the characters protruded obliquely above the others - yet all of them fell nicely into the overall picture, thereby culminating in an overall good effect.