Basanta Utsav Bengali Movie
Relationships are one of the easiest subjects when it comes to on screen representation. Cinema has always explored nitty gritty's of relationships in a variety of ways. Following the easiest route many have created history film after film and have redefined the idea of love, togetherness, happiness etc. But how much easy it might seem, love and relationships one of the most sensitive subject and needs to be tackled quite intensely with much expertise. It seems journalist turned director Rhitabrata Bhattacharya forgot these basics and worked with relationships for his debut film Basanta Utsav in a rather menacing way.
Five small stories are interweaved and presented as a film in Basanta Utsav. The plot for the stories is based in Santiniketan amidst the celebration of Holi. Abhishikta (Arunima Ghosh), Trina (Piyali Munshi), Lina (Laboni Sarkar) visit Santiniketan during the Holi celebrations with their own set of reasons. As destined, over the time of the next three days their lives get weaved into one another's. While it is a simple vacation to Santiniketan for Abhishikta, it is a lustful trip for Trina who is in love with a married man Prof. Anargha (Pijush Ganguly). Trina is heartbroken and feels deceived when her partner Anargha gets close with his wife Sumitra (June) during the Basanta Utsav.
Abhishikta on the other hand has a vacation worth remembering with Neel (Priyam), a sculptor and student at the Santiniketan University. While there is too much of love, lust in the air during the utsav, Lina searches for her friend in Santiniketan however she is informed by Prof. Avinash that her friend no more resides in the town. Lina is suffering from cancer and finally they both connect over colours and Dol (Holi). Just when the story has already become too complex with all the variety of relationships and their complexities, director Rhitabrata Bhattacharya enters the scene as Ritrin, a senior TV reporter to document the nuances of Dol utsav. In the midst of his reporting venture he follows a thread of events to reveal the real side of a murder that had taken place in Santiniketan a few days back.
The narrative had its necessary flavors and could have been a good film if portrayed with clarity and proficiency. The actors are all through reasonable but are majorly disappointing provided their failure to deliver with clarity.
To summarize Rhitabrata Bhattacharya's Basanta Utsav could have been a good feature story on a television channel but was of no effect on the big screen. The madness of the colors of Dol (Holi), love and romance are a far fetched dream when it concerns Basanta Utsav.
