Debutant director Himjyoti Talukdar’s Calendar, drew a packed house for the fifth consecutive day at the Inox Theater here, something rare in recent times viz. Assamese cinema.
Mrinmoyee Sharma who watched the show today said that though there were similarities with Jibon Bator Logori in which Nipon Goswami had essayed the role of a lonesome widower whose children live abroad, this was different, especially the ending.
Anamika Phukan, who had also watched Wednesday’s show praised Himjyoti Talukdar for being able to draw in the crowds without the usual commercial trappings of song and dance.
“We need more of these kinds of movies which eschew violence, vulgarity and masala to attract the masses,” she said.
The low cost movie which Himjyoti Talukdar has written, produced and directed is more to do with acceptance and adjustment of the changed social milieu than a commentary on it.
The movie portrays a typical middle class aging couple, the Kakatis, (Arun Nath and Moloya Goswami), living in a town in Assam and apart from their only son, Raja (Gunjan Bharadwaj) who is married to a girl from a Hindi-speaking community and struggling to stand on his own feet in Delhi.
The foibles of Hitesh Kakati, his attachment to his scooter which keeps breaking down, his obsession with his health and trying out new remedies for perceived problems raises a few laughs.
The USP of the movie is the way the movie-maker maintains a neutrality when the new bride cancels her plans to visit her in-laws and decides to appear for a job interview instead. Raja, who is mired in loans, tells his mother that in a place like Delhi one could subsist only when both of them earned and “moreover why should she waste her education.”
And again when the son, himself leaves after only one day’s stay on the morning of Uruka, leaving his parents saddened but accepting his need to leave.
The theme has a refreshing appeal in that the daughter in law is not made out to be the villain, nor do the parents blame their son for neglecting them.
The climax comes with the death of Manorama Kakati and the desolate widower takes a decision to sell off his house and leave. One will have to watch the film to know where he goes.
The ubiquitous calendar on which is circled important dates by Manorama and also those dates, the secret of which is revealed later.
Himjyoti Talukdar had written the screenplay and produced ‘Marksheet’ in 2016 which had also been well received by critics.
Talukdar is well-known for his website enajori.com which preserves films and songs of Assam.