Chaplin 8211; A milestone

Directed by Anindo Banerjee,it promises to be a milestone film.

It is a tribute not only to Charlie Chaplin,the director has dedicated it to,but a greater tribute to the marginal performer who ekes out a living by making himself up into a poor version of Chaplin to perform at birthday parties of children from affluent families. The story,authored by Padmanabha Dasgupta,was inspired by a man I saw performing at the birthday celebrations of my sons friend. He was dressed up quite poorly to look like Chaplin but was performing like a skilled artiste. I was surprised that the guests were not interested in his performance. They chose to crowd around me knowing that I wrote film scripts. I caught him pick up a bar of chocolate from the big bag that dropped from above for the children to pick out goodies from. He quietly tucked the chocolate in his pocket and I assumed it was for his son back home. I tried to look for him everywhere but failed.

This is the core of Chaplin the film. The story runs on parallel tracks. One follows the antics of Bangshi Das,who makes a living out of playing Chaplin at parties. The other goes along with Bangshi Das and his close relationship with his ten-year-old son Nimua. Rudranil Ghosh,one of the most talented actors in Bengali cinema whose fluid looks,petite form and dusky skin lend themselves to fit into any character plays Chaplin. He has worked with Sekhar Das,Anjan Dutt,Aniket Chatterjee,Aniruddha Roy Choudhury,Aparna Sen,Goutam Ghose,Parambrato Chatterjee,Birsa Dasgupta and a host of commercial directors.

I look at the character as a crisis of choice. Should Bangshi remain Chaplin,the entertainer,or should he be Bangshi Das,the father of Nimua? Life does not leave him with an option. So it is more about Bangshi Das portraying both Chaplin and Nimuas father in the film and less about Rudranil Ghosh portraying Bangshi Das. Nimuas dream is to have a grand birthday party. Bangshi wants to become a famous artiste. Their dreams make life lived on the edges of poverty enjoyable. How the two parallel dreams coincide or do not make for a dramatic climax, says Rudranil.

Says producer Subhajit Roy of Orion Entertainment,Bengali cinema has explored mother-daughter or mother-son relationships. But a father-son relationship has hardly graced the Bengali screen. Chaplin deals with an unusual story about a father and his son where a close friendship overshadows their extreme poverty and the struggle for existence.

Chaplin in my film is a metaphor. The film reflects a philosophy that demonstrates the power of the human spirit to turn liabilities into assets,negatives into positives like Charlie Chaplin did, says debut-making director Anindo Banerjee. Sohom,the boy who plays Nimua is a miracle. My performance would never have been as it turned out without this boys talent,spontaneity and the power to grasp directions, sums up Rudranil.

The cast introduces Rachita,a new face,and casts funny man Mir in his first serious role. The emotional music track is composed by Indradeep Dasgupta. Soumik Haldars cinematography is for 35mm Cinemascope. Chaplin will further the trend of content-driven,small-budget films like Icche where there are no starry names and no song sequences shot in exotic locations but will strike a chord in the minds of the audience.