Back at London Film School, my professors always told me that the graduation script is to be treated as a spec script. It is meant to generate interest in order to garner more work but not to be actually shot; at least not for another five years. I never understood the depth of that statement; not until I saw Iti Mrinali.
The hype, the hoopla, the return and the damp! Iti Mrinalini was much-awaited due to a lot of different reasons – Aparna Sen’s directorial return to Bengali cinema, Konkana Sen Sharma’s return to the screen since her marriage and baby, the mother-daughter duo’s return, both portraying different ages of the same character. Speculations were ripe if this was an autobiographical film by Sen.
Note to self: Stop following media hypes!
As a dear friend would have told me, I am not a true film student. In my defence, media hype was not the only reason to watch Iti Mrinalini. Being a Konkana Sen Sharma fan, it was the most obvious film to watch this weekend. I have personally always found Aparna Sen to be a better director than an actress; she was returning to an out and out Bengali language film after a decade, since Paromita-r Ek Din (English Title: House of Memories; 2000). Of course, the entire confusion and mixed reports as to whether it is autobiographical or not added to the interest.
So there I was in the afternoon heat inside an air-conditioned movie theatre surrounded with a lot of Bengali Television faces (don’t Bengali serials shoot on weekends?) anxiously waiting for the film to begin. Iti Mrinalini is the story of an aging actress, Mrinalini Mitra who is writing her suicide note. As she goes through old memorabilia, her story unfolds.
Interesting? Yes!
Only problem – the reason for her suicide and the subsequent reason to not commit suicide!
Mrinalini, when the story begins, is a veteran of the industry. She has made a successful return to the screen and is having an affair with the director of the film, Imtiaz Chowdhury (Priyanshu Chatterjee) who is younger to her in age. All goes fine till the premiere party of the film where the lead actress of the next film is announced and it is not Mrinalini, as promised by Imtiaz. Instead it turns out to be a younger face, Hiya Majumdar (Ananya Chatterjee). Surprise, surprise! After a number of prominent roles in films and television and a National Award where was the need for Ananya Chatterjee to portray Hiya Majumdar? All she had to do was, look pretty and smile. Was the attraction of working in an Aparna Sen film that great? I wonder!
On realising that Imtiaz has not only given Hiya the role but is also having an affair with her, Mrinalini decides that it is time to draw the curtain on her life. One small question – two scenes prior to the party it is Mrinalini who insists that the next film should have a younger face and not her. In the light of that scene would the loss of the role be a strong enough for her suicide? One could say that Imtiaz’s infidelity led to the decision. In that case, it required more prominence to become a reason for the audience to sympathise with Mrinalini.
As the story unfolds, you realize that Mrinalini is one of those doomed people who never attain personal happiness. She is the biggest face of the 70s but is alone in her personal life. Her college sweetheart (Saheb Bhattacharjee) is shot dead by the cops because he’s a Naxalite, she has an affair with her director, Siddhartha Sarkar (Rajat Kapoor) who shoots her career to prominence but never leaves his family and marries her. She has a daughter out of wedlock who dies in an airplane accident just when she is about to come stay with Mrinalini and finally Imtiaz Chowdhury happens. The only true friend in all these years has been Chintan Nair (Koushik Sen) who infuses in her the maturity and patience to realize that there are different kinds of love and domestic love is not the begin all and end all of life.
At the end of 2 hours, Mrinalini has hardly matured as her attempted suicide is the result of another failed love affair. And the decision to not commit suicide is the result of a message from Chintan that informs her that he is coming to meet her. After all this, at the end of 2 hours and 10 minutes you should feel miserable for the character. All you end up feeling is miserable for yourself and for wasting 2 hours of your life.
It would be unfair to compare Sen’s recent work with other directors who have worked on similar concepts. Thus, I shall choose one of her works here. Sen has directed nine films till date and they have always given us poignant stories of women from different walks of life. These women have broken social norms and have led their lives on their own terms. The result of such a choice may or may not have been in line with their desires but they have had the courage to take that step.
Sen’s last Bengali film, Paromita-r Ek Din comes closest to Iti Mrinalini in its exploration of the dual themes of friendship and loneliness. Paromita, too flouted social norms in having an extra-marital affair, yet returning to her mother-in-laws bedside in her last moments. Nevertheless, one felt for Paromita and her situation. On the other hand, Sen does not give you enough pathos to feel for Mrinalini, except the point where she loses her daughter. That is possibly the only moment in the film when you are one with her pain and suffering.
Events happen too fast in Mrinalini’s life; too fast for the audience to connect with her. The only hint of struggle as a new actress is being turned down for a role she had been promised. There is no substantial reason or occurrence for her to fall in love with both her directors; almost like it’s a given that if you are working too closely with a person of the opposite gender, sparks are bound to fly and an affair is in the offering (wonder why I am still single!). It is Sen’s signature style to provide the lead character with that one character that provides him/her moral support and is not judgemental. Mrinalini has that person in Chintan but the exploration of Chintan is so thin that you never feel his presence until and unless pointed out. Sen made a wise decision in having Anjan Dutta dub for Rajat Kapoor’s role. I wonder why she couldn’t cast an actor with a real Malyalam accent instead of putting Koushik Sen ill-at-ease as a man from Kerala.
All seems like a forced effort to make you feel sorry for Mrinalini. A glycerine bottle, if you may!
Saying that Konkana Sen Sharma did justice to her role would be stating the obvious. Although, I quite did not understand the need to cast Ranvir Shorey as the cameraman for a few scenes and turn this into a family get-together! Was Sen’s grandson too a part of the cast?
Iti Mrinalini is most definitely an unfinished script.
