Movie Review – Mayurakshi

A poignant yet practical tale on old age

‘Mayurakshi’ started with a kind of sad note right from scene one. There was something depressing about it right from the word go. But its not one of the movies where old age is exhibited with romanticized suffering or with something too depressing like Haneke movies. It was somewhere in between romanticism and practicality. It kind of balanced both of it but couldn’t really get me wooed as much as it ought to have. The premise was excellent, it should have ideally been something like ‘About Schimdt’ for me. I expected it to be but the loneliness wasn’t as effective as that of ‘About Schimdt’.

Aryanil (Prosenjit Chatterjee) returns from Chicago to meet his ailing father Sushovan (Soumitra Chatterjee) who is having age related problems. Even though Sushovan doesn’t remember immediate things, he remembers things of past like Aryanil’s cricket match and some mystic woman names Mayurakshi. The name occurs every now and then but personally didn’t invoke as much curiosity as much it should have because it’s after all the title of the movie.

I was rather intrigued with what Aryanil goes through. How he has no one to help and how his problems are tougher to explain than that of Sushovan’s. There were no tear jerker moments at all, which was a welcome relief and the best part of the movie is that it doesn’t make Aryanil feel guilty. As much as he couldn’t take care of father. He’s an adult and he has problems. And with a couple of failed marriage he’s still not judged and doesn’t feel miserable about it too. The fact that the character is dealt with such sanity needs appreciation.

There were few moments which are outright practical and the disappointment as close to reality. For example, the scene where Mallika (Sudipta Chakraborty) asks for a couple of days off could have been greatly dramatized but was dealt with so much finesse. In fact, that’s the best scene of movie. Her disappointment is visible but only for a split second and Aryanil doesn’t feel any remorse for telling her not to take leave. The point is its not exaggerated. And the reply for the scene where he asks Mallika to take a couple of days off, too, was a fitting casual scene. Because that one too isn’t exaggerated. The scene where he gives off the binocular for his son could have easily been exaggerated but there is no strain in that scene at all.

Soumitra Chatterjee is terrific as Sushovan. Once a great actor, always a great actor. The way he asks to check about Mayurakshi one last time could melt any heart. In fact, that’s the only dramatized scene in the whole movie. His literary reference and the mention of Midnights Children and A R Rahman were icing on the cake because I was able to guess with the clues before Aryanil answers. So, it gave satisfaction to me in its own way.

Another aspect of the film which was nice was the friendship between Aryanil and Sahana (Indrani Halder). The way they mingled really looked like someone who were close during their teenage. The sense of comfort between them was terrific and the fact that none were there to judge them too was beautiful. In fact, the scene where she asks Aryanil, how long he was to stay there defined their relationship. Because with all others it’d have been to make him feel guilty and ask him to stay back. That’s what true friendship does to you.

Even though the film didn’t try to dramatize any scenes I guess it became a disadvantage too in not having given the necessary impact. Because with emotional films one tends to connect more than what we do in ‘Mayurakshi’. So, this film could be loved more for the film making than the story.