Review of Bengali movie Kadambari

So far so many stories has been written, told and even pictured in films about  the  controversial and much talked about relationship between Rabindranath Tagore and his sister-in-law Kadambari Devi , wife of Jyotirindranath Thakur. But what makes director Suman Ghosh's latest film "Kadambari" different from the already told stories is that it has been told with the point of view of Kadambari ,not through the eyes of more popular personality Rabindranath Thakur. It is about Kadambari, her life in Jorasanko thakurbari, her love, her anger, her passion, her loneliness , her pain.

The story starts with small girl Kadambari's entry at Jorasanko Thakurbari after her

marriage with Jyotirindranath Thakur. At this young age little Kadambari tries her best to fit at her husband's house as a good housewife but her young mind is in search of a friend with whom she can enjoy her childhood and she found that friend in her young brother-in-law Rabi. Soon Kadambari and Rabindranath finds good friend in each other as young kids. But with their growing age the equations between them keeps changing. When grown they grow up, Rabindranath finds his inspiration in Kadambari for writing but Kadambari starts developing soft corner for Rabindrandranath. Though in their relationship , they never crossed their limits it was just a mutual respect and affection for each other. But with the growing popularity of Rabindranath , Kadambari starts feeling insecure about loosing her only hope in her lonely life , Rabi. Later the situation goes in such a way that one by one Kadambari looses every hope to live and she decides to commit suicide.

The screenplay has been written quite well to tell the complicated relationship without stretching it too much. The other characters are there but their track has not been given too much importance which reduces the length of the film. The cultural background of Thakurbari has been shown very well through addas about books and songs. There are some instances about the influence of British culture too.

Suman Ghosh who has worked on stories related with Rabindranath earlier too has treated the controversial subject quite well. Its his representation that while watching it, you can not judge who is right or who is wrong morally. Also when a periodic film is made, a lot of detailing is required to recreate the period and Suman Ghosh's eye for periodic detailing is praiseworthy.

Among the main cast it is Konkona Sensharma who has given a real feeling to every emotion of Kadambari on screen. Her dialogue delivery and body language is just perfect for her character. You can see the pain and loneliness of Kadambari in her eyes. Her silent affection for Rabindranath has been portrayed quite well. There is no doubt, it is one of her career best performance.

Parambrata Chattopadhyay looks perfect as Rabindranath,with long hair and beard . But acting wise he is just okay. He does not have much scope and even where he gets a scope he could not deliver it up to the mark specially when his co-actress is superb.
Always dependable actor Koushik Sen is good and natural as Jyotirindranath Thakur. His expressions are very real , watch him in the scenes where he is uncomfortable for the closeness between his brother and wife but still he can not say anything about it.
Titas Bhowmick is good as Gyonadanandini. Shreelekha Mitra impresses in one scene appearance as Nati Binodini.

The technical team has an added responsibility when they work on a periodic film to represent the period perfectly. The camerawork is nice. Production design is authentic and the costumes are also look well researched. The editing in first half could have been better as in few scenes the jump from one scene to another looks very disjointed.

Provided its a film related to Rabindranath Tagore and Rabindra snageets have been used , it can be said the music could have been better with some better song selection. Only song that works is Vidyapati song "Mah Bhadar". The background score is just okay.

Overall it is well made film about an emotional relationship and with the truth behind the controversy around it. Watch it to know the truth and to see the brilliant acting of Konkona Sensharma in the title role.