Billu Rakhosh - Movie Review
Bilu Rakhosh (2017)
There's a scene in Bilu, where he has hired a call girl to enact the role of his wife. We see him reading a paper and from his room he shouts: Ogo suncho. Khide peyeche. Ektu muri dao. Bhaat kotodur. Ki ache ( Listen, am hungry. Give me puffed rice at least. What's for lunch). After saying this he himself feels awkward and sad. Yes, it's a role play and that deeply cuts him, makes him realize where he had landed himself. He even looks outside the window wondering if people have heard him but regains his composure. The camera shifts to the kitchen where we see the woman fry fish (reminiscent of an early scene). Lunch is set. During lunch he makes wild love to her, his inner desires trickling out and yet we understand, this is not what he had asked or wanted. He had failed as a husband, the pic of his wife and son, still in his room. But this momentary deviation from his weakness he goes back to being what he was - a broken, disheartened man - whose personal life is a mess. He is a singer, but his professional commitments are a barrier for him and so is his family life. He keeps sinking, alienating one and all, and even his last resort - singing is somewhat abandoned. He tries to escape to start from the scratch but he knows it is too late, or probably it was my interpretation. What can a man do?
Bilu Rakhosh is deeply moving and sensitive portrayal of a man and his failures. But whom do we blame for these? The man himself or the circumstances. Could he not have balanced? Instead he let himself succumb to his vulnerabilities. Joy Sengupta is brilliant as the tormented Bilu (he has always been a favourite) but what's even more fascinating is the treatment of the movie which keeps linking events from past and present to show the mess Bilu creates for himself. You might deeply relate to him ( I did in some ways). It's streaming on Netflix and it kind of reminded me of another movie Kalpurush (2005), but Bilu's lyrical madness is both audacious and poignant, which will leave you in a state of unease. One of the finest Bangla movies in recent years, here's a director who knows his craft.
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