Review of Bengali film #Shankhachil

Shankhachil are migratory birds who are not bound to live in limitations, they are free to roam around anywhere they wish unlike human beings who are bounded by some human drawn lines which are called borders of different nations.
This movie is a tale about the trespassing incidents that take place every now and then

between India and Bangladesh, which might be illegal in terms of law but is it really illegal? Just before few decades all Bengali's were same irrespective of their religion suddenly one British officer decided to separate them based on religion and the whole Bengali community divided in two different nationals, was that fare enough? The answer will be no. For the British officers it might look just a piece of land and they drew border on that but for the people who used to live there it was much more than just a piece of land, for them it was their home, their dreams, their memories and it was inhuman to force someone to leave all these just because it is on the other part of the border. All Bengali's have grown up listening to those painful stories of partition from their forefathers and this movie has tried to re-live those painful moments through flash back. Not only that this movie also tries to find the effect of partition in the life of Bengali's in today's times even after almost 70 years. Still people have to face difficulties still people have to trespass because of the complexities involved in legal migration process.

This film is a story of a middle class family in Bangladesh, lead by Badal Choudhury (Prasenjit Chatterjee), his wife Laila(Kusum Sikder) and their twelve year old daughter

Rupsha(Shajbati). Badal is a school teacher, Laila is a housewife and Rupsha is a sweet

growing up kid very close to nature and friendly with everyone even with the BSF guards from India. But Rupsha has one health problem from birth; she has a heart disease which needs to be treated in a big hospital in a big city like Dhaka or Kolkata. Suddenly her heart problem goes very much out of control and a need of immediate medical attention arises. Considering they leave near by the India- Bangladesh border, Kolkata seems to be more apt choice for her treatment than going to Dhaka as it will take comparatively much lesser time to travel. But the problem is Kolkata is in India and the family do not have the time to complete all the immigration related formalities so they takes the risk to go to Kolkata as illegal immigrant crossing the river Icchamati illegally. But after coming to India they realise how difficult it is for them to live in India as illegal immigrants. They have to hide their original identity, even their original religion and act as Indian Hindu Bengali. In every step they have to live like criminals with a fear of being caught, they can’t even sell their own property openly as it will be termed as smuggling. How long they will be able to hide their real identity? And will they be able to go back to their own country? Those questions have been answered in the climax.

Goutam Ghosh is a well establish director and there is nothing to doubt his calibre. Once again he has proved himself as one of the finest directors of Bengali film industry. He has chosen a subject that will touch every Bengali. The way he has incorporated Bengali poems and songs, in the screenplay, which are very close to every Bengali’s sentiments, is commendable. The screenplay written by Ghosh along with Sayantani Putatunda is very emotional and towards the climax it will surely make you moist eyed.

Prasenjit Chatterjee is in superb form. He has played his on screen character with brilliance.

He has brought out the simplicity of a small town school teacher wonderfully. In the emotional scenes he is too good. This performance is one of his career’s best performances. Kusum Sikder has underplayed her character of a supporting wife wonderfully. She has comparatively lesser scope but still she manages to leave impression. Shajbati has done a pretty good job as the curious kid Rupsha. She has a nice screen presence and confident enough to make her presence felt among the senior actors. Rest of the cast including many actors from both side of Bengal have done good job in supporting roles.

The technical team is in terrific form lead by the cinematographer Ishan Ghosh who is also the son of Goutam Ghosh. Ishan Ghosh has captured the natural beauty of rural Bangladesh superbly, at the same time he has brought out the contrast between a calm peaceful village with the noisy always busy metro city wonderfully. Art direction by Indranil Ghosh and Uttam Guho is absolutely brilliant and looks convincing.

Overall #Shankhachil is a wonderful film about the consequences of partition on the life of Bengalis. It is a simple story told simply which will touch your heart. Every Bengali will feel connected with it no matter from which side of Bengal they are.