movie review

Let’s try to hear the sound of ambience through the ears of Tarak

With this film Kaushik Ganguly has paid a tribute the less known heroes behind a cinema call the Foley artists.                                                 Arghadeep Barua

                                               

shabdo movie poster

Directed by     Kaushik Ganguly

Produced by    Gautam Kundu

Written by      Kaushik Ganguly

Starring            Ritwik Chakraborty

Raima Sen

Churni Ganguly

Victor Banerjee

Srijit Mukherji

Cinematography         Shirsha Ray

Editing by       Mainak Bhaumik

Foley artist       Gaya Dhar 

Release dates   •           December 10, 2012 (Dubai Film Festival)

•           April 12, 2013 (Kolkata)

Running time   100 minutes

Country          Indian

Language         Bengali

Shabdo(sound) is a thought provoking movie that talks about the life of a foley artist named Tarak/ Tahrok, who considers himself a master craftsman recreating sounds of the universe dressed in his underwear and confined to a sound studio. And he is so obsessed with his work that he loses his grip on words and his mind starts registering only foley sounds.

Celebrating the 100 years of Indian cinema, shabdo is a tribute to all those film technicians who never got their due recognition. Yet without their efforts a film would be a mere audio-video exercise.

The main protagonist of the story Tarak played by Ritwik Chakraborty has done an excellent work. He literally lived the character of Tarak, a foley artist brilliantly. He strikes a chord with the audience through his expressions of angst, gullibility, stubbornness and escapism. Now we’ been talking about foley artist since the beginning but what exactly does this foley artist do. Foley artists are the unsung heroes behind the ‘dishoom’ of a punch, the sound of footsteps of the villain, sound of the feathers of birds while taking the flight, etc. Their job is to create ambient sounds for films. The foley artist of this movie is GAYA DHAR NAYAK, and he has done an awe-inspiring job. Tarak is so much into his job, that he gradually gets trapped in his own world, a world full of sound (i.e. Shabdo). It won the 60th National Film Awards for Best Feature Film in Bengali.

The film starts showing Tarak's worried wife who has taken him to a psychiatrist for treatment because she feels that he lives in a world of his own. The psychiatrist (Churni Ganguly) discovers that actually there is nothing wrong with Tarak's hearing ability. He just focuses so much on background sounds that he does not pay attention to vocal sounds. The doctor tries to convince Tarak that he has a serious problem and he needs treatment. But Tarak is very adamant and do not wants to admit that he has had any problem. On the doctor's advice Tarak's wife takes him to Siliguri for a short holiday which Dipendu, the sound arranger of the studio, where Tarak works arranges. Even there Tarak keeps listening to all the natural sounds like the twittering of birds or the gush of water in a mountain spring. On the trip, Tarak tries to convince his wife that there is nothing wrong with him. He just keeps thinking about sounds because that's his job.

Raima Sen as Tarak’s wife does a good job. However she is not thoroughly convincing as a lower middle class housewife. Her off-screen image overrules her on-screen persona. Churni Ganguly as the emotional psychiatrist plays her part endearingly. I must say Churni Ganguly has been best used by Kaushik Ganguly the director, let it be in Shunyo E Buke (2005)  or Laptop (2012). Victor Banerjee through his performance lends the serenity that his role as an experienced psychiatrist demands. He is a true veteran and it reflects in his work.

The filmmaker has purposely avoided background score retaining only the ambience sounds making the viewer hear what Tarak hears. The highlight of the film is the surreal scene where Tarak is made to face the problem at hand. There are several touching moments like the waterfall scene where Tarak is overwhelmed by the sound of the gushing force of water, scenes where Tarak displays how he is inseparable from the sounds he listens to and how he goes about recreating them. At one point the director confronts the audience through the psychiatrist’s outburst- raising questions about the judgmental society thus exposing the dichotomous  personality of the psychiatrist who is as emotionally involved in her job as Tarak is in his job.

Kaushik Ganguly has come with a very thoroughly researched and well-crafted script. Just like his previous films the passion that he puts in his work, not just can be seen but also be felt in this movie. He maintains a speed that is neither very slow nor too fast. And as far lightings are concerned, he has used it very aptly.

 His next film will be releasing on 25^th of april. 2014, ‘apu’r panchali’, it is based on the life of Subir Banerjee, the actor who played Apu in Pather Panchali (1955), the first film of Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy. And I’m eagerly waiting for it.

Shirsha Ray as cinematographer and Mainak Bhaumik as editor has done a brilliant job. They have added a different colour and vibration in the movie. Kudos, to the whole team, including the crew member of Shabdo.

Satyajit Ray used to say there are only two types of films, good and bad. And surely this one comes in the first category. Two thumbs up.