A good film doesn't need any validation, any promotion or any review. It simply gains momentum through authentic word of mouth recommendation by audiences. Just as no amount of badgering promotional tactics is enough to get the box office going for a damp squib of a film, a good film runs on its own steam and sets its own record silently.
Srijit Mukherji’s latest film Winkle Twinkle belongs to the second category.
In an age and time, when taking public political stances is getting increasingly professionally risky, Srijit has magically managed to make a film that spares no political party existing in Bengal’s current landscape.
A screen adaptation of Bratya Basu's popular play Winkle Twinkle, that was first staged in 2002, this film stars the inimitable Ritwick Chakraborty as protagonist Sabyasachi Sen.
A Communist party worker from the 70s Emergency era, Sabyasachi is deeply committed to the Left political philosophy who wakes up from his slumber a good 26 years later. He realises that everything and everyone around him has changed, some for better and most for worse. The familiar streets, the familiar faces, the familiar politics, everything seems to have changed forever and overnight for him, as Sabyasachi remains frozen in time and age. In this backdrop, the plot develops through political dialogues with his son, who is almost of the same age, beautiful recollection of political struggles with his now-aged wife, played with so much conviction by Anashua Majumdar and conversations with once fellow comrades.
As Sabyasachi grapples to come to terms with the stark reality of how the ideals and politics he held so dear has failed, he feels all the more alienated and lost. Though he realises how consumption-driven society has abandoned the cause of collective welfare and equal rights, he never gives up on hope.
The plot culminates into a climax with Sabyasachi and his son Indro having a face off. But the ever optimistic Srijit intelligently ends the film with a clear message that as along as social, economic, political inequalities and selfishness exist in a hedonistic and imbalanced society, Left ideology will remain the gatekeepers of conscience, haunting every political animal, wary of looking into the mirror. In this film Sabyasachi becomes a metaphor for left ideals, refusing to die despite near fatal assaults. After all, how can hope for a better society with equal opportunities and no class distinction ever die? Which living being doesn’t want a life with dignity and equal opportunity? Kudos to Srijit for boldly stating the obvious in such a matter of fact manner. Left is not a political party, it's an ideology that resonates with almost anybody when the vision is not clouded by overriding self interest.
The camera work, the beautiful melding of stage and screen creating impactful surreal moments, the powerful dialogues, the in-sync background music and a couple of songs including one by Kabir Suman, everything about the film leaves an impression.
A remarkable feature is the casting coup, that the director achieved. None of the actors felt out of sync and at times the audience gasped thinking that the reel life and the real life of a few merged. He also didn’t spare a jibe at the current style of journalism which remains happy skimming the surface
Words are honestly not enough to capture the acting range of Ritwick Chakraborty. As Sabyasachi Sen, he not only lives the part, he compels the audience to feel his helpless plight as someone who witnesses the world without any moral compass crumbling in front of his eyes. Is this the world he dreamt of and fought for? Our hearts went out for Sabyasachi when he said to his son that perhaps it would be convenient for everyone if he dies again. The message stands out as a loud reminder that how many would breathe easy if the inconvenient mirror of communism vanishes from the earth.
Senior actor Anashua Majumdar is a perfect foil as Ritwick’s aged wife and never did for once we feel they looked odd as a couple . The magical body language of the actors, the affection, and the deep love with a little touch of uneasiness simply had our hearts skip a beat. Sohini looks and plays every bit of her part as the comrade-in- arms young wife of Sabyasachi. Parambrata Chatterjee is so naturally hyper-flexible in his views as Indro.
Angana, the young daughter of Sabyasachi, is impressive and Rajatava Dutta and Debesh Chattopadhyay are unmatched in their expressions and performances. Satrajit Sarkar, who played Ritwik Ghatak in Srijit’s another stellar film, Padatik, plays a disheartened Naxalite, with conviction.
The film sees Sabyasachi waking up again after 23 years to a new Kolkata in 2025. We are stoked to imagine how Srijit might take the story forward, if he decides on a sequel given the current political dispensation which he couldn’t incorporate this film, which he completed a year back. A few years of Saffron rule might give him new fodder.
The film also triggers a stray thought — does communism demand better human beings, perhaps a much evolved creature, which perhaps explains why almost all communist parties struggle to keep up to the "standards" and deviations are so rampant. Be that as it may, one thing is for certain, and that is parties that swear by communism will continue to strive for approximating the ideal that demands blood, sweat, toil and tears in this stage of history where we eat, drink and sleep consumerism.
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