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V.K. SANTOSH KUMAR
Noted Bengali actress Rituparna Sengupta, known for her roles in Do Not Disturb and Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh, has made a comeback to Hindi cinema after three years with Bansuri (Flute).
The film, which was released in India on April 16, also stars Bollywood heavyweight Anurag Kashyap and is directed by Hari Viswanath, who burst to fame in 2015 with the critically acclaimed Tamil movie Radiopetti.
Bansuri will be screened in Singapore next month at Carnival Cinemas.
"I got involved with Bansuri when (Bengali film) director Satarupa Sanyal told me that a very talented director from the South wants to work with me," Rituparna, who has been living in Singapore since March last year when Covid-19 flared up, told tabla!. "Hari Viswanath has seen me in many films and appreciates my work.
"He flew in to Kolkata from Chennai to meet me and narrated the story. I was quite impressed and agreed to do the film."
Inspired by Augusto's award-winning Tamil play Vanavillin Ambbu, Bansuri revolves around an eight-year-old boy Madan (Ankan Mallick) who gets inspired by his friend David's (Deepro Sen) piano-playing skills.
Madan believes that as David has an innate talent for music like his own father, he feels that he, too, must also follow his father's footsteps.
As Madan is on his road to discover what talents run in his family, his mother Sapna Mishra (Rituparna) gives him a flute and convinces him that his father Sadashiv (Anurag) is a big musician in Dubai. He then tries to excel like his old man.
"The story is beautifully woven and the characters are so real," said Rituparna, who has been flying between Kolkata, Mumbai and Singapore regularly since her husband Sanjay Chakrabarti, who runs a private equity investment company, moved to Singapore in 2007. "The mother and child are deeply connected and the father, who is distant, finally joins them through a turn of events."
The Times of India noted that "Rituparna Sengupta outshines every other cast member in her role as a mother who wants her son to make something out of his life and a wife who is still hanging tight for her husband to return while being a dutiful daughter-in-law who lends support to her father-in-law (Masood Akhtar)".
Rituparna, whose children Ankan and Rishona Niya, study in an international school in Singapore, said: "The interpretation of motherhood comes in manifold ways through this simple, innocent story. It's really intriguing to know how a child's mind works.
"I have a very subtle and nuanced character - as a mother, daughter-in-law and wife. I play a simple woman trying to put a life together with a young son."
Anurag, who has directed Bollywood classics such as Black Friday, No Smoking, Gangs Of Wasseypur, Manmarziyaan and Sacred Games, is also a noted actor, who has performed in movies such as Luck By Chance, Ghoomketu and AK vs AK.
In Bansuri, he plays his role to perfection, according to Rituparna.
"It was wonderful working with Anurag," she said. "I had met him before. But it was the first time I was acting in a film with him.
"He is a heavyweight. So I had to measure up to him. He acted very well as the role was difficult. We had very nice chemistry.
"The good thing about him is that he did not try to direct the director. He also co-wrote the script which I felt was a nice gesture."
A big part of the film was shot in a sprawling tea garden in the hills of Jalpaiguri, a city in West Bengal, and Rituparna enjoyed the experience.
"Our team was amazing," she said. "We had lovely evenings together.
"Anurag is chilled out. He loves fish and every evening we had different kinds of fish. He talked about his daughter and the difficult times he initially faced in the industry. He spoke of his experiences working with different people. He had so many stories."
Filming for Bansuri started at the end of May 2019 and was completed by June that year. It was mostly shot in the Dooars area of West Bengal.
Interestingly, the film was born near a drama stage in Chennai's Mylapore, where Tamil playwright Augusto was staging his play Vanavillin Ambbu.
"I've known him (Augusto) since childhood," director Hari told The Hindu. "When I listened to the basic storyline of Vanavillin Ambbu, I had a gut instinct that it would click with an universal audience."
Hari was clear from the start that the project would be in Hindi, a language he wasn't actually too comfortable with.
"I can read and understand, but I cannot speak Hindi fluently. It was an opportunity for me to come out of my comfort zone," said Hari, who describes the film as the result of a five-year journey that included multiple trips to Kolkata, where his producers were based, and Mumbai.
The director then roped in Polish cinematographer Grzegorz Hartfiel and Jayashree Lakshminarayanan, who did the art and production design.
Sreekar Prasad is the editor while the musical score is by Debojyoti Mishra. Other cast members include Upendra Limaye, Danish Hussain and Meher Mistry.
"He (Anurag Kashyap) is a heavyweight. So I had to measure up to him. He acted very well as the role was difficult. We had very nice chemistry. " - Bengali actress Rituparna Sengupta
