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The form is a train ride studded with flashbacks, Uttam Kumar's resemblance to Mastroianni suits Satyajit Ray with La Dolce Vita and 8½ in mind. A box-office flop leaves the matinee idol nonplussed about what audiences want, "I'm in it. Isn't that enough?" An award awaits him in Delhi, the trip is one down memory lane in a passenger car filled with assorted miniature dramas. The irritable curmudgeon (Jogesh Chatterjee) once enjoyed How Green Was My Valley but has little use for movies otherwise, the advertiser (Ranjit Sen) laments the state of India's film industry, the obsequious publicist (Kamu Mukherjee) with the pretty wife (Susmita Mukherjee) catches his attention. Above all, the editor of Modern Woman magazine (Sharmila Tagore), "not the autograph type" but angling for an interview with the urbane thespian. (She dismisses his work as "not realistic," he recognizes her as a familiar character, "the voice of conscience in village plays.") The Lady Vanishes, Wild Strawberries, Ray with a staccato rhythm on the fear and rue behind the celebrity pose. "The modern-day Krishna," plagued by dreams where he sinks in a landscape of cash and skeletons and ringing phones. Does cinema need to be defended? A bastard realm of puppets, says the theater mentor (Soumen Bose), not as noble as activism, suggests the politicized colleague (Premangshu Bose). The old order is an imperious seasoned ham (Bireswar Sen) who chastises the upstart only to later be denied even a small role, the next generation is an avid aspiring starlet (Sumita Sanyal) who leads him into brawling scandal. "This is the age of Marx and Freud. No rebirth, no providence." End of the line, the interviewer rips her notes while the hero meets his fans. With Nirmal Ghosh, Bharati Devi, Lali Chowdhury, Subrata Sensharma, and Satya Banerjee. In black and white.
--- Fernando F. Croce |