And framing these real-life stories is Shahida, going about her own way, and her mother frantic about her missing four-year-old. I have always believed that Sudiptaa Chakraborty is probably the finest actress in Bengal today, and even with the limited scope she has here she shows why. Shahida is a natural and provides some of the film’s delightful moments. Look at her standing in front of a jalebi vendor – and then walking away with a plateful. Cajoling a lollipop out of a shopkeeper. Or asking a flower seller for a rose, which he does not have in his wares (happiness would probably be a rose, but she gets a marigold).
The film’s biggest strength however lies in its captivating kaleidoscope of life on the streets of Kolkata – and a shoutout here to the camerawork by the brilliant Soumik Halder, more so given the unscripted, surreptitious nature of the shoot with much of the film emerging even as it was being shot. I cannot recall another Bengali film in recent times, which provides this up-close and intimate look at the streets, markets and localities of this great metropolis, and the people who inhabit these. You can almost smell the footpaths reflecting the dappled winter sun, the markets overflowing with Christmas decorations, the shanties, the congested alleyways, the rundown walls layered with political graffiti and lungis, gamchhas, garments and whatnot hanging out to dry.
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