Srijon Bardhan's Postmaster : a poem in celluloid

        Srijon Bardhan's  Postmaster :  a poem in celluloid

                            The richness of Indian cinema  lies on the films made in different Indian languages. A lament is heard among the film critics and historian that the  real filmmakers who understand cinema as a form of art have vanished and most of them have trapped into the soft porn . My voice was also with them till the moment I saw and read the Bengali film Postmaster by Srijon Bardhan, a young filmmaker from Kolkata who has shown tremendously the hope to carry forward the legacy of Ray, Ghatat, and Sen.

  I saw the film Postmaster at Delhi International Film Festival, which got the Official selection .The film was very engrossing that one can not but wait till the last frame. And I had to. 

  The original story The Postmaster by Rabindranath Tagore , depicts  an unnamed postmaster who is posted to a remote post office of an Indian village. This is the baseline of the film Postmaster. The filmmaker is aware of the sensitive part of Tagore's story and candidly admits, " I have emerged my own idea of Tagore without tempering the temperament of the film."

Poster of the Bengali film Postmaster

    




      

 Srijon's film Postmaster depicts the psychological dilemma of  Nanda Sen who is assigned to a rural postoffice in a village called Plassey as a postmaster . In the course of the time, he comes across an orphaned girl Ratna who later becomes his domestic help. The simplicity and honesty of Ratna attract him and with due course, Nanda falls in love with her. Nanda breaks the stereotyped notion to marry an upper caste girl and accepts her, although she belongs to a lower strata of the society.  Nanda's father Raghab Sen who is against the relationship, says to his son in his death bed , to leave Ratna and the baby (eventually they are about to have a baby) and to marry a girl of a  sophisticated family. The psychology of Nanda, as played by a very talented actor Ishaan Mazumder, is brilliantly drawn in through his acting. The expression of psychological imbalance and conflict is one of the best scenes in the film. The credit goes to the actor, Ishaan and the filmmaker, Srijon.  Nanda finally succumbs to the circumstance and abandons his wife Ratna and the new born baby just leaving behind a letter. Ratna, played by Pujarini Ghosh , is successful in transforming her character. Its not easy to play two separate identities - as a simple young girl and later an emotionally imbalanced mother. I feel, Pujarini Ghosh is  the new face who will definately take a place as an actress in Indian Cinema. Ratna is shocked at this betrayal and is succumbed to death. Knowing Ratna's death, he imagines and embraces her in divinity.

Ishaan Mazumder as Nanda and  Pujarini Ghosh as Ratna in Postmaster

Still from the Bengali film Postmaster

 The music is used as a leit motif. The music  is  metaphorically  presented  to portray  Nanda and Ratna's love and their sadness . The slow panning of the camera syncronised with the music will take you back to the world of Ray and Ravi Shankar.  The emotions, mood-swing, romance, sadness and hope of the characters are well reflected through  music.  Music is a character for Srijon and  a language  to express what can not be expressed through the visuals.

Filmmaker Srijon is instructing his actor

 Srijon Bardhan's 'Postmaster',   enriched with rich images and metaphors, is a well crafted film visually. The filmmaker is successful in translating his imagination into the visual frame. Srijon's 'Postmaster'  will be remembered as a poem in celluloid.