National Film Awards: Asha Jaoar Majhe is wordless, beautiful poetry in motion
For second year in a row, the National Film Award jury won me over with their choice for the top two prizes. Court, as I have pointed earlier, won the highest honour - Best Feature Film - but the decision which really wowed was their pick for the Indira Gandhi Award for best debut film of a director. It went to Asha Jaoar Majhe, aka Labour of Love, a Bengali film with almost no spoken Bengali in it.
That’s because Labour of Love is a silent film, which relies entirely on images and everyday sounds, and for most part delivers exquisitely. Fans of Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood For Love, one of the finest romances in cinema, are likely to admire the efforts of rookie director Aditya Vikram Sengupta.
In an age where chaos reigns, Sengupta practises restraint, letting actions give viewers a comprehensive sketch of his two leads. The plot is simple. The film follows a day in the rather ordinary life of a man and a woman who we gradually discover are married. He (Ritwick Chakraborty) works the night shift at a printing press. She (Basabdutta Chatterjee) works during the day as an inspector at a factory. Sengupta shuttles between the two: he first shows the husband at home while the wife is headed for work; later she returns home and he is at work. Through routine acts such as cooking, sleeping, and commuting to work, Sengupta offers us a detailed portrait of their lonely worlds. As they go about their mundane lives, viewers wait for the happy ending which here implies when they are in same frame together. Will it happen? Watch out for the surreal black-and-white ending.
Cinematographers Mahendra Shetty (who worked on Udaan, Lootera) and Sengupta collaborate wonderfully to present a postcard-pretty Kolkata and scenes from a marriage. They make the city as much a character here. Their work makes Labour of Love a lyrical poetry in motion.
Albeit it is a languorous and taxing one to sit through, for many will be put off by the lack of drama, action or suspense.
Sengupta’s film isn’t for fans of loud action entertainers. It’s also guilty of coming across as indulgent with images that often feel vacuous. Do we really need to see the wheel of the cycle spinning for so long?
Despite the film’s frailties, Sengupta shows promise and is a talent to watch out for. He doesn’t just have a beautiful eye but also ear as evident by the wonderful sound design – the fan spinning, the printing machine at work, the oil frying in the pan and the vegetable vendor calling from the street. More so, his handling of the marital relationship is lovely to watch. The couple divide the household chores. They eat their meals separately. He is her alarm clock, calling from work to wake her up. He shops for fish and vegetables. She cooks them for him. In these simple and sweet acts, there is profound love.
The couple’s journey may be fraught with financial woes, but Sengupta makes us believe that they are #mfeo (made for each other). And that their love will conquer it all.