Gotro teaser: Doesn't seem to challenge rising intolerance of 'lower' castes

The teaser of Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy’s Gotro is out now. Actress Anashua Majumdar plays the protagonist. In the teaser, she introduces all the characters who play crucial roles in forming the idea of an inclusive society.

Majumdar establishes the storyline in a few introductory lines. Her grand mansion is called Govinda Dhaam, where Sri Krishna is worshipped with regular rituals. Majumdar’s son Anirban (Saheb Chatterjee) lives in Houston. However, she is never lonely at home. She considers her domestic help Jhuma (Manali De) her daughter. Also, there are the pandit (Ambarish Bhattacharya), Anirban’s friend Ritam (Badshah Maitra) and the elderly Swajal-da, who are always ready to give her company.

Majumdar has also sheltered an uneducated man (Nigel Akkara). While introducing him, she says it is impossible to live with a man who has not heard of Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. The statement sounds pretentious and creates problems with the idea the film is going to project. However, Majumdar says, she has allowed him to stay at her place because he has a beautiful heart.

At the end of the teaser, she throws a question to the audience whether it is imperative to know one’s identity based on caste and various other distinctions to form a close bond.

From the teaser, the film doesn’t seem to challenge with a contemporary outlook the rising trend of intolerance towards people from the so-called lower castes. The picture Gotro seems to be presenting is of a tradition which many of the prosperous joint families of Bengal used to maintain long ago.

Gotro is slated to be released in August.