Review: Sanjay Mishra-Ritwick Chakraborty starrer Phera projects a picture that is known to many!

The story of Pannalal Chatterjee (Sanjay Mishra) and his son Palash (Ritwick Chakraborty) in Phera is not a story that is unheard of. Many would actually relate to this, especially those who have literally uprooted themselves to stay in bigger cities just to earn their livelihood. Can they be blamed? Not really. Can we blame their parents? Neither. We are all just pawns in the game of life. Well, Pritha Chakraborty makes a comeback almost seven years after her debut film, Mukherjee Dar Bou, and what an inning!

What worked for us in Ritwick Chakraborty-Sanjay Mishra starrer, Phera?

First of all, we were made to believe again that to make a good film, it doesn't have to be a multistarrer one, with lots of elements, cinematic moments and larger-than-life sets. Probably all that is needed is good, believable content and great performances, and that's exactly what this film is all about.

Phera is about a father-son relationship, not very friendly; it's just there. A relationship, strained and reluctant, with responsibilities at its focus, so much so that the father doesn't know what his almost 40 year-old-son likes to eat, or the son only remembers that his father didn't do anything for the family, didn't make a penny. Belonging to two very different worlds, the two characters don't quite strike a chord until Pannalal gets injured. The supporting characters, which were very ably played by Sohini Sarkar, Priyanka Sarkar, Pradeep Bhattacharya, Subrat Duta and others, were relevant and much needed for the script, but none tried to overshadow the lead actors.

Pannalal is great, popular, respected in his small world of Kalindipur, Jhargram, and Palash, in his office, well maybe not great always, still respected. He still ran away...from his home, his father, the problems, thinking what if he gets stuck like his father?

The elements acted as beautiful ornaments for the film, without getting overboard

Also, kudos to the director for keeping little quirks and elements that are very typical of many Bengali fathers, especially from the small towns...the morning gargle, opening the windows to let fresh air in, asking to have a banana right after waking up because it is 'healthy', soaking their clothes the moment they come in from outside, getting 'acidity' from roti and breads, and such.

The element of loneliness is also pretty prevalent in the film, be it Pannalal, his friend Bonku, Palash, his colleague Ananda, Palash's landlady Snigdha or even the man Palash meets in Mumbai. All lonely in their very ways.

One more thing that we found extremely striking is the chemistry between Snigdha (Sohini) and Pannalal. Of course, it was meant to be, which is why Snigdha got connected with the father figures around her so easily, but the onscreen bond they shared was heartwarming to watch.

In short, the film felt real, nostalgic, emotional, and so, so Bengali, and something that people across two to three generations could relate to very easily.

Pritha made us realise that the realities of life are still so simple, it is not as complicated as we feel it to be. Probably, we don't see it through the right glasses. Also, which house do you call your home? The one your were born into and grown up? or the one you dream to make? Does choosing the latter really make you selfish? And talking about selfishness, and may be judging Palash and Pannalal for more reasons than one, aren't we all selfish at some point of time?

The film is currently running at the theatres.

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