Antaheen – The Longs For Love
‘Antaheen’ is a collage of love stories, without saying the most abused phrase in Hindi (or Indian) cinema ‘I love you’ even once. Perhaps that is why I identified with it so much. The love shown here seems real, one that can happen in our lives and change them forever. Love comes in many different ways at various points of the lives of the characters in ‘Antaheen’. Love is watching Kolkata in the rains, a de-familiarized landscape. Love is Persian poet Rumi’s love poem written on the glass divider and rain drops falling on it. Love is talking about a kite trapped in an antenna. Love is also patiently waiting for the phone to ring so that one can hear the voice of the unknown caller. Love is also a phone call to one’s separated wife and requesting her if he can come over and stay with her for a few days just to feel that emotional attachment and the sense of belonging. Love is also a nod from a busy and indifferent businessman to his servant to give his wife medicine, when she suffers from migraine.
Moments like these make ‘Antaheen’. It is in all these fragments that we understand the totality of love in this film.
I enjoy discussing the craft of the movie more than the story line or the entertainment quotient. ‘Antaheen’ gives ample opportunity to do that. Let’s start with cinematography. Abhik Mukhopadhyay, I believe, is currently the best cinematographer in India. His work in ‘Bhalo Theko’ is a testament to that statement. I think he outperforms himself in ‘Antaheen’. Kolkata has never looked so up-market, chic and romantic. The sky scrapers, view of the city from the high rises, roads and traffic jam amidst rain, clouds, indoors all add up to give Kolkata a new look for viewers. The songs are wonderfully shot and for once the lyrics and the shots merge perfectly.
The editing compliments the cinematography perfectly. There are frames where the camera lingers on for couple of seconds more before its transition to the next scene which makes them extra special. The pace is slow. But that is ideal for a movie like this. It is almost a contrast to the fast paced urban life in the movie. I think the slow pacing is deliberate to bring out the pathos of loneliness in the middle of urbanity.
The soundtrack of ‘Antaheen’ is the best Bengali soundtrack I have heard this entire decade (or more). The songs with their picturization are special, especially ‘Jao Pakhi’. Also, the songs merge into the narrative very smoothly.
Aniruddha Roychowdhury’s direction deserves merit. He previously made ‘Anuranan’ (Resonance), a film that dealt with urban relationships. Although I liked that film, somewhere down the line I felt it was a little hurried, especially at the end. In ‘Antaheen’ he gets it right. It ends hitting the perfect note. There are many sub-plots in the movie and he handles most of them brilliantly. ‘Antaheen’ is very emotional movie and to sustain the emotional quotient till the very end is commendable. He also extracts great performances from the cast especially the newcomers.
Talking about performances, Antaheen has a stellar star cast with performers like Aparna Sen, Sharmila Tagore and Rahul Bose. There are also two debutants, Radhika Apte and Kalyan Roy. Let’s talk about the debutants first. Both Radhika Apte and Kalyan Roy are phenomenal. They are so good that one forgets about Aparna Sen and Rahul Bose although they have similar screen time as the debutants. Radhika Apte’s eyes speak a thousand words. Her performance is one of the most spontaneous performances in recent times. Kalyan Roy as the laidback, separated husband who loves books, foreign wines and Sensex is equally brilliant. It is the star performers who falter to an extent. Rahul Bose is his usual self. Also, his one dimensional character didn’t help. Aparna Sen on the other hand has an interesting role. I don’t think she played a corporate lady before. It was a new look for her too. Yet, she looks a tad tired with her performance. Sharmila Tagore is wasted in a small role. Except one scene where she talks about her story, all she does is bring Jasmine tea.
The biggest flaw of the movie is the endorsements which keep coming in almost every frame of the movie like a pop-up. It becomes an irritant and makes some scenes a laughing stock. Also certain scenes went a little overboard and became melodramatic. Rahul Bose quoting Jim Morrison in a hostage situation is hard to digest.
The movie becomes the journey of all the characters on a self discovery trip and long for love. Some end alone, some together. But the longing remains.
Tags: Antaheen, Aparna Sen, Bengali, Radhika Apte, Rahul Bose
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Hi Aniruddha, enjoyed reading this piece.
Especially the first paragraph, which beautifully summed up the tone of the movie for me, even though I haven’t seen it.
“Love is Persian poet Rumi’s love poem written on the glass divider and rain drops falling on it. Love is talking about a kite trapped in an antenna.” – Loved this. Is this from a shot in the movie? Or some of the lyrics of a song? Anyway beautiful.
And one question regarding the title — “The Longs for love” — I didn’t get its meaning.. Is it the “Longing for love” ?
Thanks Rahul for appreciating.
About Rumi’s love poem on the glass divider, it is a shot in the movie. Actually we see it a few times.
About the title, yes it is longing for love.
Then you can mail the editors [passionforcinema@gmail.com]
to change it..I think that would be an aberration on an otherwise beautiful post
Rahul, as far as I know, longs for love is grammatically correct. That is why I wrote it.
I replied to you writing longing for love as it means the same.
can i find the movie with sub titles?
Kashan try purchasing the DVD or rent it. You just won’t appreciate the movie @ youtube.
where will i get the dvd…is it available in crossword or some place like that.
i didnt find it in the catalogue of any movie rentals
@Kashan,
It’s available on Youtube.
@ Aniruddha- thanks for reminding me of this film once again.The last time I was in Cal- it was just for a day & after I was through with work I went to Inox-Swabhumi hoping to watch it before I could catch my flight.Unfortunately realised that the show timings at Inox & elsewhere were few and not @ the time when I was free.hence couldnt see it then.Will watch this one soon hopefully.I did watch Anuranan- it had its own easy going pace and a startled climax which jolts you a bit.
Sethu, I think the movie is available @ DVD.
About Anuranan, I liked it but somewhere I felt something was missing. I can’t point it out but something was not there. I guess I didnt like the hurried climax. Or what happens after it. They could have explored it a little more. But that’s just me.
Hello there!
Let me get one thing absolutely clear. Movies like ‘Antaheen’ are so refreshing from the usual Bengali fare we are served at the silver screen. It’s poignant, subtle yet sensitive. Yet…it does not touch you. Why? ‘Cause it’s more like watching an ad film for the length of two hours. A cinema is good when it’s good all through, not with the many bloopers ‘Antaheen’ had. Rudranil sporting a Morrison tee and mouthing ‘para’esque dialogues, the heroine donning the hat of a ‘Nihar’ model were some unacceptable things about the film. I was working in Bates when they shot our office to show ‘Star Ananda’ and was in fact present during the course of a night’s shoot. The film company’s substantial ad-film making background was evident even in the way they handled the shoot. A lot of effort went in making the shots look beautiful more than anything else. Kudos to Abhik’da for making Kolkata look so pristine. But what let the film down the most was the overall spic n span feel of a commercial. Not to mention the extremely rigid screen presence of Rahul Bose. Someone needs to tell him he is not Mr Iyer anymore. Though I will accept, like I did at the start of this comment, ‘Antaheen’ is a refreshing change but then we don’t really have a choice these days, do we? It’s either watching a Jeet ham in ‘Champion’ or Rahul hamming in ‘Antaheen’, atleast the packaging of the latter is far superior. What really struck me about the film was it’s music. Shantanu Moitra did a fine job though the best track of the film – ‘Bhindeshi Tara’ is an old Chandrabindoo number. As a movie goer though I would want more movies like ‘Antaheen’, something is after all much better than nothing.
I agree about the endorsements that keep coming on almost every frame. It’s laughable. But, I think we can overlook it and appreciate the movie.
Also agree about Rahul Bose. He is just repeating himself. I wrote that in the review.
But even with these bloopers, I personally enjoyed the movie. For a change, we see subtlety instead of the daily dose of melodrama we are fed.
I agree my friend. But then for a region starved of good cinema, even an ‘Antaheen’ creates quite a ripple. As I said…something IS better than nothing. Whatsay?
I am presently living in Pune and I miss Bengali movies a lot. Your review stimulated my longing even more. The Bengali movies shown in the Bengali channels are hardly up to the mark and they are more into showcasing the “prasenjit” brand of films. I think I will try to search for the movies DVD. Let’s see if I can find it in Pune. However, I must confess that I didn’t like Anuranan. The movies sudden change in tone and plot towards the climax was too abrupt and not in sync with the pace of the film. But, I would definitely like to watch Antaheen.
Rohan- check out Star Jalsa.they do show good movies often along with the more regular Prosenjit- Jeet type.I’ve seen Anuranan,Kaalpurush,Dosar etc.
Yep. Kaalpurush was pretty good. I really liked it.
Thanks for the info. Will definitely check the channel. It will be great if anyone can suggest me a shop in Pune, which sells latest/old Bengali film DVDs.
Rohan, I am located in Bangalore and here there is a decent collection of Bengali movies in both Planet M and Music World. So, you can try there.
Thanks Aniruddha. I haven’t visited Planet M in Pune. But, I had visited Landmark and the collection of Bengali films available there wasn’t too great. I am looking for DVDs of films like Anuranan, Kalbela, Crossroads-Chowrasta of Love, and Tinoretar Jishu.
@Aniruddha
Is the movie available on DVD in Bangalore ???
Dekhar khub ichhe hochhe…
I, honestly, dont remember which was the last Bengali movie I watched. Never felt the desire to watch as I couldnt stand the badly choreographed dance routine under trees, rain in misfit clothes. Ani your review shows Bengali movie has undertgone a sea-change. I am really looking forward to go back to find out -is it this movie only. Or Bengal is no longer in time warp.
I hv no idea about the movie, I thought the review deserves 5 stars. Its poetic, its interesting and shows how well Ani understands movie making…Ani, looking forward to see you making a movie…Great job, dude…!!
A brilliant review of a brilliant film. Anirudh RC really has something to speak and he speaks it with conviction. One of the best BANGLA films I have ever seen.
Just finished watching the movie on Youtube. Definitely far better than Anuranan. The reason I didn’t connect with Anuranan (and stopped watching halfway) was that all the characters seemed the same to me. There was no way I could tell the difference between the characters of Rajat Kapoor and Rahul Bose. They all seemed very super-nice and superficial. Here, at least, the characters of Kalyan Roy, Aprana Sen, Radhika Apte, Shauvik Kundagrami are a few which seem a little more than one-dimensional. And the internet love really did it for me, since I have been involved in such a thing before (tell you it’s really addictive and I could appreciate those scenes perfectly). The point where many viewers might have a problem is that this movie represents a class of people who hardly ever have any economic problems to deal with and take away their focus from emotional issues. Or, even if they do have a life outside their emotional world, there’s very little interference. I think that’s where the movie might seem all lovey-dovey. I would say to this that this was just the idea behind the movie : if you think carefully, throughout, the crucial turning points materialised from the material world itself and that either glues or shatters the emotional world; but this movie is not about the work-life of people, it’s more about their “after work” life. So, there, I’d say the movie does a wonderful job. Thanks, Aniruddha, for letting us know about the movie.
And I also loved the way the director resisted the temptation of revealing what really happened in the climax…….
Antaheen is a pretentious mockery of moviemaking. It is such a poetic movie where upperclass Bengalis scream at the top of their lungs
1. “I Have LONDON FOG and I wear it to Seattle. See my country is now filled up with designer raincoats. In a rain soaked Ultodanga(a place in Calcutta), we all walk wearing DKNY,Prada and London Fog. Are u still in your Duckback/ Shame on you. !!! ”
2. Our cops are more busy chatting online than doing their duties
3. Is it poetry in motion ? I have seen a few poetry curved in the restless body of movie. I have seen Amelie,Babel, even US Indies such as “I am not There”, Even from a few past masters like Tarkovsky’s Mirror or a few Bunuel.
where is poetry in that !#&$ Antaheen? people talk in stuttering Bengali, The youuth of Bengal seems to be connected neither with home nor with West(as most of US temp/upcoming-journos don’t have those luxuries as shown by the character of Ms. Apte), None of the characters have any depth( as for example Rano lives with books and ‘expensive’ Chivas, but nowhere we see him reading) and a few camera angle thrown here and there for the sake of poetry. Bringing so called poetic perspective for the heck of it !!! if it is poetry it is at best the same directionless words of Sunil Ganguly neither J C Dash and certainly not Binay Majumder.
Every year I wait for one that movie that will announce Nouvelle Vaugue of “Bengali” movie has started and every year the sound of my heartbroken sigh just gathers a little more resonance. why can not we make movies like Mahanagar or Jana Aranya anymore? Moving over brand placement and uper-echelon’s ignorant/vulgar display of their dimes-a-dozen affluence —why can’t there be movies about common man, his common non-branded , non-chatroom love, his trial and triumph ? Has Bengali movie forgotten to be honest?
3. And the last rejoinder from a scotchophile.Chivas is ‘expensive’ brand as claimed by Rina Sen’s character in the movie. Where —in which country Chivas is not the most popular brand and hence inversely proportional to exclusivity? Dear director a little research on Speyside would help.
1, Why can’t we have a Bengali movie where people wear designer clothes? Just because more than 50% of Bengal doesn’t wear branded clothes, we are not allowed to show upper class in movies?
2. I think the movie focused on the life after work. Atleast for Rahul Bose’s character. So chat becomes integral to the script.
3. If one wants the current Bengali movies to be like Mahanagar or Jana Aranya, what is the meaning of making a new movie then? Why not watch the old movies instead.
I am not defending Antaheen. I liked the movie so I wrote the review. You didn’t so you wrote the comment. Fine by me. But, why watch a movie with the pre-conceived notion of expecting Mahanagar/Jana Aranya/Mirror etc…
I don’t know you Labour day sale, but I agree with you more than 100%. Bangla cinema these days is pathetic. I also wait like you to see that lost glory of bangla cinema back. But every year I am getting demoralised. Many said Anuranan was nice. I could not even finish it. Seemed to be made on a editing table. All the characters were trying badly to do extra marital affair. Same old Rabindra sangeet….same old intellectual bakbak….Forget Ray, Ghatak…these days Bengal do not even make Agniswar or Saptapadi…..
People like us who saw Bangla cinema’s hey days do not bangla cinema at all…rather Bollywood offers better movies like Wednesday, Mumbai meri jaan , Rock On etc.
I wrote something on this pathetic state…I will polish it and try to publish in passion for cinema…
Aniruddha…by this I do not blame you….you are a good writer….your english is good….you might have read in an english medium school of Calcutta…they stopped teaching english and broke the backbone of a generation of Bengalis. It is not your fault aniruddha that these days Bengal has nothing to give to this country or world in the field of art and culture.
Antaheen : Dirctor’s Checklist
1.Rope a good brand for product promotion : Ambani’s in (check)
2.Make the ‘people’ swallow how intellectual I am : Frida Kahlo, Mojo Man’s poster, Chivas drinking Bengali+Rumi (Wow, feel like grandson of Sartre)
3.Show a Ab Tak Chappan style opening scene (it’s ok if the scene is irrelevant) : Done ( I love the deadpan cop look of Rahul. Ain’t that good he has same expression for every emotion ? Save Arghya’s editing time. He Can put a cop duty shot in a romantic one or a romantic expression in Rahul doing his most precious duty of the morning …)
4.use Aparna Sen and Family ( save me a hell lot of money in Set and costume. This us-prof husband of Aparna ,who is playing Ranjan ,by default comes with his own props. How clever I am)
5. Write a story :( will do.let the movie release)
I saw the movie recently. For me, some of the scenes stand out independently but for some reason movie as a whole doesn’t leave that effect on you once you are done watching.
These two people
labor_day_sale
Biswa Prasun Chatterji
I have to blantly say, do not understand anything about movies.
They are stuck in a time wrap and how they will come out only god knows. Movies are a reflection of the times, we simply cannot have movies like we did during Ray’s period coz times have changed and Antaheen is just a reflection of the times we have now.
I would have written more, but somehow it is difficult to write when there are people who have no understanding of cinema.
I would suggest them to buy the movies they know and have seen 1000 times , eat the food they had all their lives and wear the colours they wear, bugger time wraps.
It has been a really good while since I watched a good modern Bengali movie and so look forward to watching Antaheen – if I can find it in London. The last Bengali film I enjoyed was Dosar.
I’m getting a little bored of Rahul Bose playing the same character in all his films, he really ought think about acting classes ( I can’t believe I just said that, as loved him in Mr and Mrs Iyer!!). Anyway, mini rant over.
Thanks for the review, will certainly keeps my eyes open for Antaheen in London.