Soliloquy

Anuranan weighs heavily, and rightly so. It is a tale of courage, but it is also one of betrayal if seen from a nonnative lens. Rahul Bose, Rituparna Sengupta, Rajat Kapoor and Raima Sen give boisterous performances but it is Bose who overshadows everyone else with the understated exertions that his acting skills are so widely renowned for. 

Nuanced and tugging at one’s heart, Anuranan, which translates to Resonance in Bengali, deserves a place for itself in the Louvre. Director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury ensures that the Kanchenjunga, the third-highest mountain in the world, plays the role of a jilted lover with as little discernment as its massive girth will allow. 

Bose plays Rahul Chatterjee, a creative individual who would much rather lose himself to the throes of poetry that nature inspires than tend to his job as an architect in London. In steps Kapoor as Amit Banerjee and Chatterjee’s disillusionment with a world swathed by material delights amplifies. Sengupta, who is benign as Chatterjee’s wife Nandita, has lines that force one to question one’s ideas of familial delights. 

The second best role in this film is played by Sen, who is believable beyond measure as Preeti, Banerjee’s wife. The two couples socialise often, and it is the ensuing friendship between Chatterjee and Mrs Banerjee that leads us to the crux of the story. 

Too restful to be classified as an extra-marital affair, this film forces us to continually find a solution to this unnerving question: which is superior- art or utility? Chatterjee, despite being paid handsomely to build a resort at the foothills of the Kanchenjunga, chooses to walk away from that. Why? Perhaps to remind us that it is not too late to uncover one’s soul.

Rating: 4/5

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