The essence of
Alik Sukh is captured in the title for those who are familiar with the
language. For the others (like this
writer) you would need google. Alik Sukh
translates into “unreal happiness” – a concept that most of us would be
familiar with, given the sedentary and work driven lifestyle that all of us
lead. The message is pointed at most of
us to take a long hard look at whether we are “truly” happy or it is all just
an illusion.
Alik Sukh is
inspired from a real life situation where the director, Shibprasad Mukhopadhyay
lost his father due to the unavailability of a reasonable doctor on Poila Baishakh
(Bengali New Year). Dr. Kingshuk Guha (Debshankar Haldar) is a gynecologist –
and a well known one at that. He has consults
at 5 locations and has a packed schedule.
Dr. Guha also
has a simple but beautiful wife Rammani aka Rumi (Rituparna Sengupta) and a son
Tatan. They stay with his parents at
their ancestral home at Bhowanipore.
Over the past decade of his marriage, both husband and wife have done
something special on their anniversary – 22nd January. This year Kingshuk has a huge surprise in
store. He is about to buy Rumi, their
first house.
As luck would
have it, Dr. Guha starts receiving urgent calls from one of his clinics about a
Caesarean patient Kabita (Sohini Sengupta) who is slowly slipping into shock in
post-op. While he understands the
emergency and tried to control it over the phone, he is eager to get the
property deal out of the way. About 30
minutes before he reaches the clinic, the Kabita succumbs to
complications. All hell breaks lose.
There were
several aspects about Alik Sukh that I really liked. Firstly the message that was portrayed in a
manner that doesn’t leave confusion. It is
a simple movie in a simple set up. Most
of the aspects are kept real and true to life.
Even the otherwise gorgeous Rituparna Sengupta is made up to look like a
simple housewife. The performances are
natural and strong.
What I didn’t like
is the attention to detail (sigh!). Some
atrocious gaffes like a doctor saying, “I Clear, You Clear, I give shock”. To my knowledge the doctor only says “Clear”
when s/he is trying to revive a patient.
I may be a victim of watching too much Grey’s Anatomy but I have seen
other Indian medical dramas as well that show us only that. It appeared really tacky.
Of course there
are aspects of make up for Rumi’s sister who apparently suffers from leucoderma
but shows little or no signs of it. Kabita’s
character seemed more like a ghost from a horror story and not Rumi’s voice
that is eating her away. An unnecessary
angle of Biswajit (Biswajit Roy) – the widower – and his attraction towards his
sister in law, Namita (Sayani Ghosh) after his wife’s passing.
The technical
aspects such as dubbing or sound editing or even overall editing don’t deserve
any mention whatsoever. The music is
boring. And so, Alik Sukh falls prey to
that ever present grouse that I have – finishing. What could have been a superb movie with a
little bit more spent turns out to be an average flick. Watch on TV or cable for the message. No need to rush to the theatres. 5 on 10.
Watch the trailer
on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETC-hkFxpv4
No comments:
Post a Comment