E Tumi Kemon Tumi review: Unpredictable climax saves an otherwise depressing story

Director Nehal Dutta’s E Tumi Kemon Tumi basically attempts to sketch the sorry state of women in society irrespective of their noble intentions and sacrifices. The story, from the beginning to end, is a grim one. The plot is clichéd and the approach a bit outdated.

The film begins with a close shot of a name plate, written ‘Bhalobasa’ (love, also basa in Bengali is house), on an old house, located in the heart of North Calcutta. The resident of the house Antara (Priyanka Sarkar), is a married lady, who seems to have been robbed off all the happiness in her life. Antara’s husband Aritra (Rezwan Rabbani Skeikh), is fighting blood cancer at a stage when it is curable; however, for his chemotherapy he needs a huge amount of money.

It is evident from the beginning that Antara has taken to the last possible resort of selling her body to gather money in order to save her husband, who she fondly calls Ari. Ari is supposedly a writer, who, ashamed of his inabilities, doesn’t dare to ask his wife’s whereabouts and source of income.

While Antara continuously struggles at accepting her profession and avoids Ari as much as possible, Ari, on other hand, contemplates the reason for not identifying with the woman he got married to.

Antara is always on the edge, fearing the truth would be out. Her maid, Rekha, who looks after her household, as well as Ari when she goes to meet her clients, is curious to know what makes the decked up Antara leave her sickly husband at home regularly.  

The story proceeds towards the climax as Ari’s frustrations for losing touch with his wife increases, affecting his health. At the same time, Rekha’s persuasions for the truth accelerate with each day coupled with an urge to seek revenge for her humiliation at the hands of Antara. Does Antara finally save her husband? Does Ari ever come to know the truth about Antara?

The flashbacks amidst the course of the storyline offer glimpses into the past romance between Ari and Antara. Their love story is presented to be quite old fashioned. They do not seem to be very spiritual or full of depth, yet they consider each other God in love. Though Ari’s profession prior to his illness is not revealed, one wonders, how having been detached from all their kin, including Ari’s parents, who did not accept their marriage, the couple afford to live in such a grand old mansion.

The sour relationship between Ari and his parents is not well defined. Their refusal to help their son to fight the terminal disease seems too inhumane to be convincing. The director, here, perhaps, could have framed the story with a different angle.

Setting the story in the backdrop of Durga Puja and repeated shots of the goddess seem to serve no purpose apart from providing a cinematic moment at the climax. The director fails in his attempt to bridge any connection between the power of women and Goddess Durga in this regard.

Few dialogues such as the ones that suggest that the husband is more important than a wife’s self-respect, create moral loopholes in the intended message of the film.

The pace of the storyline is extremely slow and adds to the melodramatic thrust of it. Had the climax not been realistic and unpredictable, the film would have been a total waste of time. Thankfully, the end turns the content of the film quite philosophical and magnifies the issues relating to the victimisation of women in our society. The end states that though ultimately destiny or the rule of nature triumphs over all the worldly happenings, women still continue to be sorry for their actions at every step and are subjected to close scrutiny.

Priyanka Sarkar’s performance sometimes seems to be too theatrical, only if she could toen down her act in certain sequences. Debut actor Rezwan Rabbani Sheikh suits well as an archetypal character with poetic inclinations. His act is consistent throughout, but drops sometimes during the throwing of dialogues.

The actress who essays the role of Rekha gets into the skin of the character as a nosy and revengeful, frustrated maid. Her companion, too, performs well during his brief performance.

The songs of Rabindranath Tagore used by the director fit well with the philosophical approach of the film. Also, Rupankar Bagchi’s 'Saramukh Roddur', composed by Amal Chakraborty is a soulful rendition.

The cinematographer does a decent job throughout the film.

The voiceover at the end, paraphrasing the theme of the film, implies that the director was perhaps not confident of the execution. Therefore, he did not take a chance and took the pain to elaborate on the content so that the film doesn’t turn out to be a story on sheer hopelessness and melancholy.