Praktan Bengali DVD


Starring: Prasenjit Chatterjee, Rituparna Sengupta

Praktan (former) is basically about Ujaan Mukherjee (Prosenjit) and Sudipa (Rituparna) who have gone through a marriage that did not work. But the director duo has preferred not to show a straightforward relationship tale of these two individuals, preferring instead to use the medium of a train journey to narrate the journey of their failing relationship. The film begins with various people shown boarding a first class A.C. compartment of Jnaneshwari Express from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Kurla in Mumbai, the start of a long journey to Kolkata (Howrah). Sudipa finds herself sharing her coupe with Malini aka Molly (Aparajita Adhya) and her young daughter Putul. Others in the compartment include the newly wedded couple Ajay (Biswanath Basu) and (Manali Dey), an elderly couple (Soumitra Chatterjee) and (Sabitri Chatterjee), who are off to Kolkata as their son’s family is departing to the U.S and a group of 4 musicians (popular musicians in real life – (Anupam Roy) along with (Anindya Chatterjee) and (Upal Sengupta) of the popular band 'Chandrabindo'o and (Surojit Chatterjee) who was part of another popular band, 'Bhoomi'). In their own ways, some of the passengers seem to be having something about their past on their minds. The newly married couple briefly talk to each other about their past relationships and get on with their fondness for each other. The elderly couple is sad to leave behind their children but know that they have to move on with their own lives. One of the musicians reminisces about his association with the band that he was part of and his co-founder. And Sudipa finds herself in a spot of bother as she realizes that Malini and Putul are none other than Ujaan’s present wife and daughter. Upset over the same, she clearly demonstrates that she has not completely forgiven Ujaan for whatever happened between them and seems to carry the burden of their memories. A common love for heritage and culture had seen the conservation architect from Mumbai, Sudipa fall in love with Ujaan, an explorer as he liked to call himself and someone who conducted walks of different nature all over Kolkata and nearby towns as a tourist guide. But, of course, life after marriage turned out to be unlike what they had expected leading to their eventual separation.

Over the course of the 30 odd hours of the train journey, we come across not just a way of knowing how all these passengers spend their time, but also get an insight into the failed marriage of Ujaan and Sudipa. Ujaan joins them at Nagpur after driving down by road to catch the train. He is surprised to find Sudipa in the same coupe as his family. A non-linear approach in a subtle manner is used to shift the focus on and off from the train journey to the relationship between the two individuals who started off being madly in love, only to see their marriage crumbling in front of their own eyes. They ensure that the focus is more or less only on these two individuals when their past is shown, there is a mention of Ujaan’s close friend and Sudipa’s parents, but they are never really shown. Even the rest of the family members of Ujaan are barely showcased in an attempt to take us through their relationship curve. Over the course of their story we also get to understand how and what went wrong in case of their marriage. Beginning with a sense of apprehension and even disgust in a way, it’s wonderful to see Sudipa gradually opening up to Malini and acknowledging how wrong she was in her assumption about her. There are lots of wonderful moments in the film, like the one where the old lady complains to the railway attendant about the AC and other aspects in horrible Bangla mixed Hindi as her husband humorously points out later. Also, the way Ujaan and Sudipa manage to just about have a soulful discussion about their past and of course the interaction between Malini and Sudipa right at the end. Apart from the “Antakshari” sequence, there is hardly any interaction between the people on the coach. But then, this is essentially the story of Ujaan and Sudipa and their failed relationship. It’s wonderful to see how well-etched Malini’s character is and she is the one who in a way helps bring closure in the lives of both Ujaan and Sudipa.