Titli and Raincoat

Abbu and I saw Titli this weekend. It's an indie by Rituporno Ghosh, one of his earlier works before he became known to the Hindi speaking world for Raincoat. The story is about a teenage girl who has a raging crush on a popular film star and how a chance encounter with him goes on to reveal the relationship he shared with her mother many years ago. Implausible, of course, but beautifully done and with stellar performances from everyone, including Mithun Chakraborty who I've never before seen in a role where he didn't feel compelled to scream out his dialogue. It's almost possible now to believe that this is a National Award winning actor and not some abysmal passing craze.

I think I'll watch Raincoat now. Meanwhile watch Titli if you get the chance.



Postscript: Saw Raincoat. It's alright, nothing to write home about, partly because Ghosh was working with non-actors and partly because, well, unrequited love's lost its appeal. It's exhausting to watch people trapped in a wilful refusal to move on, to get ahead with life. Did like the short role of the best friend's wife, the small gestures of kindness she brings into the doom and gloom. Overall, not such a great movie which was a shame because it's based on one of my favorite short stories and has that killer song from Anubhav, Mujhe jaan na kaho meri jaan, which like O Henry's story, loses its charm when grafted on to such melancholic circumstances.