Tonic teaser: Enough similarities with Dev Adhikari's Sanjhbati character

The teaser of Avijit Sen’s upcoming film Tonic (2020) seems to be another addition to a specific category of films that Bengal Talkies is introducing. Their first production, Sanjhbati (2019), directed by Leena Gangopadhyay and Saibal Banerjee, told the story of the plight of elderly parents who lead life in loneliness due to the distance with their children, who mostly refuse to care their parents and ignore them.

In the film, Dev Adhikari’s character was a companion and saviour from this plight for two aged characters, played by Soumitra Chatterjee and Lily Chakraborty.

In Tonic as well, Dev plays the titular role of a benevolent soul, who arrives in Jaladhar Sen’s (Paran Bandopadhyay) life and rejuvenates it,  accompanying him on various adventures. Jaladhar Sen is a 75-year-old who has been married for forty-five years. Trouble intensifies as they arrange for a small get-together on their 46th anniversary and the narrative takes a dramatic shift.

The teaser doesn’t hint much of the storyline, and rather focuses on the camaraderie between Tonic and Jaladhar. There are comical moments in the teaser. Jaladhar seems to be surprised when Tonic calls him Kaka, an address for a much younger person.

There are confusions regarding Adhikari’s funny name Tonic as well. But the name has been used here deliberately to hint at the compassionate and healing attributes of the character. Tonic seems to be emphasizing the fact that age doesn’t matter while inspiring Jaladhar to lead life to the fullest, so much so that he then overwhelmingly expresses his gratitude to Tonic, for being the noble soul he is.

Apart from the character of Dev, the look of the film has uncanny similarities with Sanjhbati, especially with the outdoor scenes.

Tonic, also featuring Shakuntala Barua and Tanushree Chakraborty, is slated for release on 8 May. Watch the teaser below and let us know if you are keen to watch the film.