Srijit Mukherjee’s Zulfikar

I went to see the film because I am committed to seeing what Srijit is doing.  The opening moments of the film are outstanding—the cinematography—the palimpsests of camera vision, the frame of the Howrah Bridge, and then of course, the blue waters of the Hooghly. This is one reason I like watching well made Bengali films—because they catch Kolkata in surprising, unexpected and beautiful angles and colours. I remember Kaushik Ganguly’s Shabda—what a tour de force of imagination and execution.

The acting for the most part, was brilliant.  The male actors, particularly. In the opening scene, Parambrata. He has only got better, from his early days as Topshey to Sabyasachi Chakrabarty’s Phelu Da.  He looked the role; the Rastafarian dreadlocks really suited him. What I like about Parmabrata, is that he is truly a professional. He is always ready for the role. In top condition. Kaushik Sen, too.  They never look out of place, are never tentative, their professional correctness is paramount and their state of readiness, admirable.  I had felt that way about Akshay Khanna in Baby. He must have been close to 50 when he played that role. What a display of litheness and fitness, without which that particular profile of a RAW officer would not have come to life.

Coming back to Zulfikar. The tightness of structure, of the plot, of story line, of movement of story, intertwining of plot, character, pace, perfect till the intermission. Of course, it is a very male centered movie. Women hardly figure much in the ethos of the underworld. Destiny is male, tragedy is male, and society is also figured in terms of male actors and doers. However, the Begum, a recasting of the role of Calphurnia, is somewhat haunting. Dope addiction, loneliness, childlessness, living out an abandoned marriage, her walking on the Second Hooghly Bridge, epitomizes the loneliness that marks the lives of many.  A Death-in- Life existence. That could be more a woman’s trajectory than a male’s, if one is living in a world where only men call the shots. In any case, women are more involved in careers as psychiatric patients, than men. We all know the etymological root of the term ‘hysteria’.  Paoli is very convincing in her role as this haunted woman.    

In the Begum’s walking, the starkness of the human being was very movingly etched. What do outcasts and pariahs do? They walk. The street is their home. For the Begum, walking frees her from the confinement of her home, where there is no convivial sound or presence. Not even a pet. Not even a maid. She is alone with her mind and her addiction. Yet, it is a mind that is gifted, in that it is capable of prophetic vision.  Cassandra too had prophetic vision. She warned Agamemnon that she saw blood all around. But no one heeded her. What one notices about the Begum also, is that she is not hooded behind a purdah. Her isolation is both classical and contemporary and gendered. She is stark in the way the tragic hero (Oedipus, Macbeth, Lear, Othello) is stark, stark because she has a mind in a heavily male dominated society, stark because she feels unwanted and rejected. She is the alienated woman in any society.  

That it was structured along the lines of Julius Caesar, I caught on pretty late. Only when the soothsayer warned Zulfikar about the coming of Eid. The Ides of March and Eid, have an interesting resonance. There was nothing overt about the recollection or recasting of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. The recall and the weaving in were very subtle.  There was nothing loud or overt.

The transformation of the artist into the Mafia Don was for me, the most spectacular transformation, and an affirmation of the darkness of Destiny, sometimes. Art did not offer this young male, release. Crime has its own seductions, its power, and its own relentlessness. In this respect, the film seems to concur with the Classical view of Destiny as all powerful. Shakespeare too, does not discount Fate.

The casting of Dev in the role of Mario was very intelligent. Srijit certainly brought the best out in Dev vis à vis the role he plays here.  I have never seen Dev in as restrained a role as he plays here.  The romantic sequence was not very impressive. It seems slightly out of place in a film that is so darkly realistic. It brings back echoes of the marriage of Don Corleone’s youngest son to the young and beautiful Italian girl, who later dies in a car blast. The love story however does not strike the poignant note that it did in The Godfather. The actress however, did her best.

Kaushik Sen was outstanding. He brings out the conflict between nobility and the desire for revenge in Brutus, very well.  The splitting of the role of Mark Anthony into the two Anglo Indian brothers was superb from a dramatic point of view.

Rahul Banerjee too played his role very well. He is another highly competent actor who takes his profession very seriously and whose professionalism comes across to the audience.

Music was excellent.

The film however was too long. The deaths too many. Reminiscent of Seneca and Kyd.

I really like your work Srijit. I hope you will not mind my criticism.

Film making is very difficult. All those who try to bring wholeness and unity into character, event, and all else that goes into the making of a film, deserve our applause and I give it to youJ