What the fish!
Some movies just happen. As if the whole universe conspires towards it. On a fine midweek which has become a new Sunday due to the full lockdown restrictions on Sundays, where one goes off to buy non veg. One such morning of ours was reserved in selecting what fish to buy. Apart from regular anchovies, we bought black mullet too, something which we haven’t tried before. But as someone who’s always interested in trying out something new, I was excited. On the same day evening, I had this movie named ‘Maacher Jhol’ in my list to watch. Having no clue what it means and the title cards too not having English translation for it, I was totally unaware of what I was going to watch. So, in the end when I got to know what it meant, I thought how destiny has conspired me into something fishy.
The movie opens with food, that too in a foreign locale. Being a foodie who has just come out of a nap after lunch, it was so appealing. I guess in this lockdown, next to movies I’ve watched more food videos than anything else. With others, food videos might have been topping the list. So, the immediate feeling was a pleasant one. For some non-Bengali who watches Bengal film as an outsider, the general notion of watching a Bengali film is to expect a slow movie with peeled off walls and poor people. Thanks to all the Ray concoction. So, to see France, see an exotic dish and wide landscapes, it felt as if like a breath of fresh air. I could literally breathe the fresh air when the protagonist walks around Paris. Having been house arrested, the feel was so liberating because it came out from quite an unexpected film. Watching an Imitiaz Ali film and having that feel is quite natural, its like you’ve signed up for a travel package, even if you don’t read the itinerary, you know that you’re going to see new things and be amazed by it but here its like taking an office bus and going to Ladakh. Maybe I’m being a hopeless romantic here but that’s how it was.
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Readers Write In #238: What the fish! (‘Maacher Jhol’)
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