“ Tui ki kore bujish pakhira kon gache ache”

“Chup koriya kaan bujhle shona jaye kon gaach”

(How do you know which trees the birds are in?

If you keep quiet and carefully listen, you can identify which tree?

This conversation between the two characters in Pinjar sums up the entire movie very well! Rudrajit Roy’s directorial has finally hit the screens in Kolkata through a gala premiere yesterday night where the star cast and industry colleagues attended the screening. While the star cast was full of hope and excitement, the guests were full of praises. And if you are wondering what makes Pinjar special, we’ll tell you just that.

Instances that are found next door

The narrative starts with the mundane, everyday activities. A single father, a busy street where animals are sold, a normal household, a conscious social circle and much more; intrigue the audience from the very first frame, more so because they don’t see fictional characters. They see regular ones that they have seen in their lives. But as the narrative progresses, one sees how these instances become a metaphor of the word Pinjar (or cage), for aren’t we all trapped in our lives like a bird trapped inside a cage?

The characters are ones we often see or meet but probably never really pay attention to understand their lives. A single father of a young daughter struggles with poverty and keeps them afloat by capturing and selling birds, while his young daughter falls prey to the male gaze quite often. A house-wife takes care of the family, the child and often hides the deep scars that have been inflicted upon her body due to domestic violence. A young bird-seller is conscious of social prejudices around him. A widow who takes on the lonely life willingly, and yet there is a yearning in the heart for a freedom which is often denied to the ladies in white. While each of the characters has very different situations in life, they ultimately coincide- on -screen and through the shared feeling of wanting to break an invisible cage that society has built around them.

Performances that leave a mark

Roy works with an ensemble cast including Mamata Shankar, Satakshi Nandy, Joy Sengupta, Sagnik Mukherjee, Samiul Alam, Mallika Banerjee, Ishan Mazumder, Tathagatha Mukherjee and Swastidipa Rabidas. While each of the actors was commendable on screen, Sagnik Mukherjee as Tarak stood out the most. His body language, dialogues, expressions were extremely effortless; a result of his active participation in disciplined theatre. He is the pivot to the world of Pinjar and most of the characters revolve around him. From eve- teasing, and social prejudice to domestic violence, the characters touch them all and yet make them believable. Interestingly, the first half of the movie establishes suppression, dismissal, and acceptance; it is important to see how these characters stand up for themselves and break the cages that seem to lock them in through the rest of the movie. 

Music that brings pace to the narrative

Another commendable aspect of the movie is its music composed by Ratul Shankar. While the rhythm and melodies are mostly situational, they are just the slight push that one needs to complete each facet of the frame. A perfect sense of space, brilliant performer/s, hard-hitting dialogues and music that wraps up the emotion is what lends the movie, a whole package in every frame. Mention must also be made of the powerful dialogues, where each word is carefully positioned and has equal contribution in making Pinjar a movie worth your time.

Pinjar moves with the flow without being preachy. But if we go back to where we began, cages are all around us. One just needs to quietly listen to identify which cage one is locked in, so that they can find a way to get out of it sooner. Thus, Pinjar scores high on narrative, performance and music reiterating that audience should invest faith in independent cinema too.

Pinjar is running in theatres from today

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