One can consider Atanu Ghosh as well as a chronicler of modern urban life. Just alone the visible city landscapes in Shesh Pata between traditional old buildings and modern buildings, narrow lanes new skyscraper present a city (Kolkata) in a permanent transformation almost like in the the postwar films by Ozu. Despite the fact that smartphones are today in films an inevitable object in films with a contemporary sujet, these devices which enable to communicate in light speed always, with everyone and in any part of the world (which was still a science fiction fantasy at the time of Ozu, Naruse or Antonioni for example) – in Shesh Pata they appear almost as a new step of estrangement in modern societies. Sometimes graphics of SMS-messages invade the screen with its careful composed frames. Rather than communication, the presence of smart phones in Shesh Pata seem to tighten the atmosphere of disconnection, loneliness and lostness.
The neglected writer Balmiki has not only lost his ability to write but as well his ability to communicate with others. Beside his physical decay he is still traumatized by the brutal murder of his wife decades ago. Prosenjit Chatterjee embodies this lost soul tight-lipped in gestures which vary between nearly minimalstic with sudden outbursts of madness as a person who is not really alive anymore but an echo of a life which has almost gone. The next character, Sounak, a recovery agent working for a bank to recollect money from indebted people, (among them Balmiki) is another lost soul. Too empathic for being a successful debt collector he will be riven between his business and his humanity. Medha, the third character is an educated woman in her best years. She is just divorcing from her husband who betrayed her. She will be hired as a ghostwriter for Balmiki to finish his last book, the only option to gain any money from the indebted writer.
Even though Shesh Pata is a film about a society, which is in a process of disintegration in a world which drifts apart in loneliness and indifference, Atanu Ghosh´s film is nevertheless a celebration of cinema. His somnambulistic sense for locations, environments and interiors, his careful composed images or the almost musical variation of dialogue: directly spoken, on SMS-messages, sometimes voice over and sometimes even sung, all that makes him appear like a painter with a very rich color palette. The masterful sound design with the mundane sounds of the city and a minimalistic score is another evidence of the film´s richness. Near the end the soundtrack offers as well some heartbreaking Baul songs.
Even though Medha´s home is sometimes invaded by her divorced husbands who bothers her in picking up some od his things, her apartment is the only real home of a main character in this film. And she is able to defend it against her invading ex husband. Her rooms seem to be really dwelt by a person. Balmiki´s shabby apartment looks less than a place to live than a museum of a life which is almost forgotten. More striking is the relationship between Sounak and the rooms he stays in. Hardly connected with the house of his family, he is always on the road, busy to recover the debt of different persons (and unable to pay his own debts) in the office of his agency or visiting several apartments. For a quick intimate meeting with his girlfriend, he rents a cheap hotel room. This character, always on the move seems not to arrive anywhere.
Among the images which has burnt into my memory are the moments when the suicidal Balmiki climbs up to the roof of a tower block or when he is picking grass off from the place where his wife was murdered. It is a trauma which once was a big event for the medias but now literally grass has grown over this terrible event. In these moments Balmiki seems to be most godforsaken being on earth. While Sounak or Medha still try to survive in this world, Balmiki rather seems to be pending between life and death, between presence and disappearance.
When I think about this rich textured cinemascope images, I begin to envy the mostly Indian people you were able to see Atanu Ghosh´s film on the big screen while I can see them only on some Indian streaming platforms. That does not go without a certain frustration for me. There is for example a moment when the longing for the big screen is very strong, a moment when a train passes by in high speed cutting through the mighty cinemascope frame like a razor. I can only guess like this could be experienced on the big screen. Even though Atanu Ghoshs films have won many awards in his country ( just alone 5 Filmfare Awards for Shesh Pata) and on film festivals, for the international film community there is still a less known but great artist to discover. In a perfect world, a film like Shesh Pata would have a certain place in art cinemas and film festivals around the globe.
Rüdiger Tomczak
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