Sanjhbati review: Exhausting screenplay that fails to raise awareness about a glaring issue

Watching Leena Gangopadhyay and Saibal Banerjee’s Sanjhbati (2019), one might feel one is watching episodes of a mega serial. The tedious screenplay, with episodic descriptions of mundane life and predictable treatment of issues, is mostly boring. There is a good chance that throughout the film, you might not find a single moment to engage with, a revelation to relate to or a dramatic unfolding in the plot to anticipate.

The film attempts to highlight the plight of the aged, many of whom are left with no choice but to live alone, as their children have travelled far for work and settled elsewhere. While they live alone, they sometimes depend on companions who are not blood relations, or they are sent to old-age homes.

There have been many films on the issue. Earlier this year itself, Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy’s Gotro (2019) followed almost a similar line of thought. While that director duo managed to infuse a message of communal harmony in Gotro, Sanjhbati presents a black-and-white story, stereotyping the characters without going to the roots of problems.

Both films show how lonely old people get coerced by goons to sell their properties. In Sanjhbati, the children are blatantly portrayed as villains, without any grey shades. They are insensitive souls who do not think twice before throwing their parents out of their houses because they are more concerned with accumulating money to buy property in a foreign land and secure their lives.

Sulekha (Lily Chakravorty) lives with her maid Phuli (Paoli Dam) and is friends with her old suitor Chana-da (Soumitra Chatterjee). Sulekha’s son (Sudip Mukerjee) is apparently concerned about his mother’s safety and so engages Chandan (Dev Adhikari), a distant acquaintance of his, to take care of her.

The son's concerns regarding his mother are superficial. He doesn’t hesitate to call her selfish when she refuses to sell her house and go and stay with his family. Sulekha, on the other hand, is happy with her maid and her caretaker, who make her life eventful with their little joys and quarrels. Sulekha is empathetic towards Chana-da too. Whenever she gets the opportunity, she sends him food via Chandan.

The central conflict arises as some goons, aware of the son's wishes, begin to pressurize Sulekha to sell her property. It leads the film towards an illogical climax. When Sulekha is battling high blood pressure and the constant explosions of firecrackers which make her tense, both her loving and attentive caretakers choose to leave her alone in a room, no caring to keep vigil during the night and make sure she is all right, leading to her condition worsening.

The problem is the film only paints the sad scenario of the elderly, without trying to look at the reasons for it or creating awareness about the trend of ignoring the value of the important people in our lives. What is the point of a narrative that picks up some characters, all victims of circumstances, and proceeds to stereotype them? The audience, and parents, need to know why children grow up to be so insensitive at a stage in life when they are supposed to take responsibility.

That would have meant looking at some flaws in the current system of rearing children. The flaws lie not just in the way children are raised, but also in the way male and female roles in the household are decided. So, while Sulekha says she has wasted valuable years of her life raising kids who do not care for her, Chana-da complains he never had the experience of managing a household on his own, leaving him no choice but to move into an old-age home in his final years.

Instead of delving into the reasons for such situations, the film offers clichéd and melodramatic dialogues meant to create sympathy for the 'victims' and, perhaps, tease out a few tears from the audience. Sulekha repeatedly sending her maid to the bazaar, asking whether Chana-da has had his food on time, and going on with the same interaction with the goons gets tiresome after a while. Also, Chandan’s statement, Ami hate churi porini [I am not wearing bangles] to announce his masculinity is quite problematic.

It appears that the track of Phuli and Chandan was incorporated only to make the audience laugh at times, while the rest of the film only allows the characters to complain and cry.

Lily Chakraborty appears to have felt her character with her heart and soul. She is natural in her moments of showing compassion and anger too. Soumitra Chatterjee is his usual reliable self. Dam moulds herself well into a spirited, simple, talkative woman who is not afraid to express her true emotions. Adhikari tries his best to maintain a calm countenance and not break out into his usual macho avatar.

Raja Narayan Deb’s background score is sometimes too imposing and interferes with the narrative. Anupam Roy’s 'Kagoner Bari' and 'Khoma Koro' are soulful compositions. Shirsha Roy’s cinematography is a delight. Pity the exhausting and predictable screenplay does not offer a plot that the audience, now exposed to experimental content from around the world on digital platforms, can relate with.