Gomon: The Last Journey (2025), directed by veteran filmmaker Chandra Mudoi, follows the story of a broken family in Guwahati, Assam. The narrative revolves around a failed marriage, a child’s longing for his mother, and the struggles of a father who has abandoned his caregiving responsibilities. In the absence of a mother and a caring father, the young child is taken care of by his uncle and grandmother.
The film’s narrative focuses on the emotional dimensions of these few characters as they are suppressed by various situational factors such as finances and a threat to their existence. The tension heightens with the introduction of an electric crematorium that threatens the survival of the uncle’s traditional wood supply business, symbolizing a larger clash between modernity and tradition.
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In what could have been a compelling story, just like that of Jahnu Barua’s Xagoroloi Bohudoor (1955), which also explored a similar dilemma of change and modernity, Gomon: The Last Journey (2025) suffers from loud storytelling and an over-the-top presentation. The development of a new bridge being built on a river and its psychological impact on the boatman is successfully showcased in Barua’s Xagoroloi Bohudoor (1955), but Chandra Mudoi’s Gomon: The Last Journey (2025) is far from realism. The characters’ struggles with change and modernity are addressed in a way that lacks subtlety, making it feel like the film is simply checking off thematic boxes rather than actually creating any meaningful deliberation out of it.
The film is also melodramatic to the point of being overwhelming. The story constantly returns to the child’s repetitive questioning of when his mother will return, the uncle’s attempts to care for him, an unsupportive father, and the effects of the broken marriage in a household. These elements play out again and again. In fact, much of the first half is dedicated to showing the mundane aspects of their life—taking the child to school, bringing him back, and dealing with the father’s frustrations—without offering much in terms of character growth or plot development. The lack of any forward momentum drains the film of any sense of urgency or progression. It is only much later that the pace changes as the clash between the husband and the wife is shown.
The filmmaking techniques in Gomon are amateurish, relying on repetitive visual motifs and dated techniques. The frequent use of breaking glass to symbolize conflict feels forced– be it the glass of a framed wedding picture or the glass of a whisky bottle. Moreover, the overall filmmaking style feels unpolished, with poorly executed scenes that diminish the potential emotional impact of the narrative. There are dialogues that were fixed in post-production, which can be easily made out in the film.
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The character development is one of the film’s major shortcomings. After being subjected to domestic violence, Boby, the wife, leaves her husband and son in search of a better life, but her character lacks depth because she leaves her child with an abusive and indifferent father. Dipu, the father, is an angry and abusive figure who gives up on everything after he leaves his job. He rips up his educational certificates and throws all of his work-related tools down the drain. He is disillusioned with all aspects of life in general. But such turns in the story seem more like plot devices than well-developed character decisions. There is another scene where the t-shirt of the child is torn just to make way for a visit to a shopping mall, so that his mother gets to see him (his mother now works in the shopping mall).
Moreover, all the characters in the film are portrayed as escapists in one way or another—each avoiding facing their responsibilities or growing from their experiences. Boby leaves her family to work in a mall, abandoning her son to an abusive father. Dipu, after losing his job, gives up on life and becomes a passive, angry figure. His mother has also given up on him. He now spends time smoking joints at railway crossings and engaging in fist fights with drug dealers. The uncle, despite his best intentions, also struggles with his own issues. He operates as a sensible person, but being in a madhouse messes his brains up to the extent that he finds himself inside a roadside public dustbin in a particular scene.
The storytelling techniques of director Chandra Mudoi are very much from the eighties. Such techniques of melodrama and over-the-top storytelling beats do not work today. The sooner filmmaker Mudoi realises this, the better it is for him.
In Gomon: The Last Journey (2025) there is a heavy-handed moralizing tone, with frequent moral lectures that detract the film from the story. The character of the elder brother often goes into a monologue mode about life and death. One example is when he lectures a rich spoiled brat (played by Bikram Rajkhowa in a guest appearance) about how pride and strength are ultimately useless, and everyone will be reduced to ashes. The film’s insistence on teaching viewers lessons feels too much on-the-nose. It is no longer social commentary but a forced and shallow moral proclamation.
Master Chakshit Om Sarma plays the young son, who is caught between his abusive father and his distant mother. He delivers such a terrible act that he will be ashamed of watching himself in the film ten years down the line. Amrita Gogoi plays the distant mother who doesn’t get enough opportunity to shine in the film. Actor Jatindra Nath Khanikar plays the uncle, who looks genuine and is a great match for his role, and the same can be said for actor Dibyajyoti Das, who successfully delivers the angst of a failed father and that of an unsuccessful son.
Overall, Gomon: The Last Journey is a film that instead of offering a fresh perspective on family, love, change, and tradition, relies on melodrama and clichés, making it difficult for new-age audiences to connect with it. This is the fourth consecutive failure for filmmaker Chandra Mudoi, following Soi Gaaor Chompa (2017), Go Goi (2022), and Bhola Bombhola (2022), all of which suffered from similar issues. Despite winning the National Award for Best Feature Film in Assamese for Ronuwa (2021), Mudoi’s recent films have struggled both critically and commercially. It seems clear that unless he adapts his approach, his future in Assamese cinema may not be very bright.