Anik Dutta’s Bhuter Bhabishyat is primarily a commercial comedy film. But, this is not that mindless blunt comedy that evokes laughter only. The film combines the popular Bengali film culture with Bengali intellectual middle class and therefore needs considerable amount of attention towards certain facts that are needed to be told in a much simplest form. Anik Dutta uses his satirical text to discuss such things with careful choice of characterization, acts and frames. Apart from that, the film brings back nostalgia. Let’s see how.
A tinge of satire was already there in the first half of the cinema, when Param Brata, as the aspiring film director was answering his production manager’s rather blunt query, ‘if a producer spends money for my film, certainly I won’t make a film that surpasses the audience and hit the blank wall! A film should be made in such a way, that everybody understands the message it contains.’ This criticism of modern, intellectual, art cinema came back once again in a much toned-down form, when Sabyasachi, the narrator himself mocked the so-called ‘intellectual’ films containing ‘messages’ that the common mass fail to understand! Anik is right in his point, although not entirely.
The film tells story of the future of the past, that is, ‘Bhuter Bhabishyat’. All the characters, from the 18th Century British-lover Bengali Zaminder Raibahadur who loves to hear ‘Thungri’, ‘Toppa’, to the present day pseudo-intellectual band singer who always wears a Che Guevara T-shirt and creates horrendous cacophony in the name of singing a ‘modern’ song. The servant of British East India Company sings ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as the reminiscence of the past glory. His latent racist crudeness comes out when he says, ‘would it have been the British era, the promoter (Ganesh Bhutoriya) would be hanged!’ That clearly defines that even though he lives with the ghosts from different genres and ages, his true British self does exist and bites back with nostalgia. The Bengali film actress of 40s, successfully portrayed on screen by Swastika Mukhopadhyay, sings and haunts the palace with a typical nosy sound that brings back the memory of the Kanan Devi period of Bengali cinema. The modern day English speaking Bong girl Koyel, always wears a jeans and makes herself a successful portrayal ‘hip and happening’, who cannot even speaks her mother tongue properly. Here comes the dogma of Social Satire which only develops through the narrative. The film, through its many layers and outstanding characterization actually mocks certain popular Bengali periodical images (which are more filmic than real) that have been depicted in the so-called period dramas through ages and made absolutely ‘stereotyped’. Through a lengthy conversation between actress Kadalibala and Koyel, the director ridicules modern ‘Bong’ culture. Koyel firmly criticizes Kadali’s ‘retro’ attire which is absolutely unacceptable to today’s young generation (true to the core), and vividly describes what should be the gesture of a modern 21st century young lady. Through this portrayal of a typical ‘Bong’ character, the director mocks an entire English-educated, middle-class generation, who always wear Western outfit, speak Bengali in such a way as if they do not know how to speak it out, to whom ‘cool’ and ‘hot’ bear same meaning! The modern Bangla band songs have been firmly criticized too, where the lyrics sometimes become meaningless (Juddha Esechhe, Buddha Hesechhe) and fail to create certain ambience that is desired by the lovers of melodies. Thus, whenever Pablo (not Picasso or Neruda but Patranabish) tries to ‘play’ a song, (this is what he says) everybody either moves out in the other direction or just vanishes in the thin air (they are ghosts after all)!
Apart from the bend of satire, through the dialogues, gestures and frames, the film brings back nostalgia. The film, like many other Auteuristic creations, gives tribute to Sayajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Robert J. Flaherty. The film even contains a dialogue from Ray’s legendary ‘Hirak Rajar Deshe’, ‘Baki raha khajna, mote bhalo kaaj naa!’ The ringtone of the would-be film-maker’s mobile phone breaks the eeriness of the alleged ‘ghost mansion’ with the voice of the ‘King of the Ghost’ in Ray’s Goopy-Gayen-Bagha-Bayen, that articulates the three boons. The revolutionary Naxalite martyr and the famous chasing and gunshot sequences from the 70’s political cinema, bring back the memory of Mrinal Sen’s ‘Kolkata 71’. As a whole, certain portions of the film depict a period of uncertainty, fear and anger. The maker has very successfully combined the idea of Naxalite movement with today’s Maoist Guerrilla Warfare. Why not? After all, the ideology is more or less same, though the period and portrayal are different. There is, even a brief remembrance of Nandigram (the place which brought change in Bengal politics), remember?
The Eskimo ghost describes himself as ‘Nanook’, during the interview arranged for ghosts in the ghost-mansion. Nanook, the name itself refers to the famous documentary by Robert J. Flaherty on the Eskimo life, ‘Nanook of the North’. Thus, the film gives tribute to the legend too. Through the characterization, the film brings back nostalgia too. From the Muslim bawarchi in Nawab Sirajudaulla’s kitchen, British East India Company servant, Raibahadur Zaminder, post-partition refugee, actress from 40s Bengali movies, Bihari Rickshaw puller, martyrs of Naxalite movement and Kargil War, down to the Rizwanur case, the film is all about recalling the history, the tales of the past that are needed to be told. It also describes the middle class Bengali culture that learns to mimic the master (British colonial ruler)!
Some people criticized ‘Bhuter Bhabishyat’ for its ‘stereotypical’ use of characters from different genres and periods. To me, the film itself mocks the excessive screen portrayal of ‘Stereotyped’ characters in the modern Bengali melodrama, which are not so ‘real’. Therefore, the film incorporates the artistic theory of Magic Realism at the same time, by presenting the characters from the past and breaking the rules of the ‘real’ world.
Only the last part of the film is a bit too commercialized. From ‘Pod Pradhan’ to the hilarious Mastaan (haat kata Kartik), everything is fine and serves the purpose successfully. Only, the commercial dance sequence was not needed to arouse Bhutoriya and horrify him by showing him the face of his dead wife, Laxmi, whom he had killed earlier for dowry. This part seemed to me a bit far-fetched. Apart from that, the film is successful in its purpose, with all the pros and cons, the ghosts achieve success by rescuing the mansion from greedy Bhutoriya and live happily ever after. Thus the film successfully mocks the dominant Bengali middle-class perception of history, which eliminates the cultural value of the self and incorporates the ‘other’.
Suchetana Chakraborty
