Finally, after seven years, courtesy of the OTT platform, Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s ‘Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa’ finally came out. Many of us gave up hope. Yes, it was not released in multiplex or single screen, but there was another way or what!
This is a picture of Buddhadev Dasgupta’s own genre. The linear structure is not so much, he has broken the body of the story from shot to shot, and at the same time the body of another story has been formed. The main character Anwar (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) is a detective. Not a hobby, professional. But his main job is not to catch the killer or solve the mystery. Anwar basically tries to find the hidden love of men and women by climbing a lizard. Although he has lost his girlfriend Ayesha (Niharika Singh). The story of Anwar’s search for his past is slowly intertwined with this espionage. From time to time he begins to spy on himself!
In fact, the essence of the image of Buddha is one! That is, people are always looking for themselves. In one’s work, in one’s family life, even in hiding oneself. Anwar himself gets tired of chasing after different cases, loneliness consumes him. Sometimes he peeks into his past love. Then his only refuge was his constant companion dog. The two also drink alcohol together. The helpless creature was then the only refuge of his loneliness. He was a bit of an ‘odd man out’ in the family of his father (postmaster) and uncle in a village in Bihar. Now Anwar is lonely even in his own family. As if he wants to find himself.
Buddhadeva made the garland of the picture in the rhythm of his own poem with his own thoughts. Atmaja composer Aloknanda Dasgupta has given him a worthy accompaniment. I have never seen such an appropriate and thoughtful use of Sukumar Roy’s song ‘Hattimatim’. How the lyric and melody are integrated with the visual motion of the picture. And the performance of Nawazuddin Siddiqui should be put above all. It is impossible to think of Anwar without him. His kind of sad indifferent face. But you can be smart enough at work, you can also be quick. But when he faces himself, another Nawazuddin. He seems to be in the picture made so long ago. Amrita Chatterjee from Kolkata, Ananya Chatterjee, Pankaj Tripathi from Mumbai, Niharika Singh helped the director through their presence. Such is the style of Buddhadev Dasgupta’s film. Those who are looking for art in cinema, looking for poetic imagination, wanting to reach the door of poetic feeling, must see ‘Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa’ at least once. There are many complaints about the oTT platforms, but thanks for bringing this picture to the attention of the viewers.
