The trailer of Aritra Mukherjee's debut film Brahma Janen Gopon Kommoti (2020) suggests that the storyline revolves around a female priest and her struggles in a patriarchal family and society at large. Featuring Ritabhari Chakraborty as the protagonist Shabari, Soham Majumder as her husband Vikramaditya, Soma Chakraborty, Ambarish Bhattacharya, Manasi Sinha and Subhasish Mukherjee, the film attempts to tell a story of a married woman, who promotes a woman’s equal position in society.
Though Shabari is seen correcting the priest as he chants the wrong mantras during her own wedding, or breaking the tradition of kanyadaan [giving away of the bride] and stating her views on Shabarimala temple, she is also seen associating people’s love and expectations with wearing bangles, a Hindu tradition considered to be proof of commitment in a marital relationship. This kind of middle path of making compromises to appease certain family members in order to break specific patriarchal traditions appears problematic.
Also, the family Shabari gets married into is extremely orthodox. It is easy to show a new bride, who is a progressive professor in a Sanskrit college, to show her concerns and deliver a preachy message. It doesn’t really address the deeply embedded ideas and concepts in the minds of the common people, who hardly realise their position in the spectrum of gender equality, while apparently leading a progressive life.
Considering the background of the story, it is hard to predict whether audiences from all backgrounds will be able to relate with it. In the visuals, Majumder appears quite natural in his act, while Chakraborty and the other characters seem to be straight from television serials that deal with ‘saas-bahu’ storylines.
Brahma Janen Gopon Kommoti is slated to release on 6 March. Watch the trailer below and let us know if you are keen to watch the film.