Pather Shesh Kothaye

Music : Tapan

Cast: Krishnakishor Mukherjee,Tanima Sen,Simli Paul,Gourab Chatterjee,Soumitra

Chatterjee,Sujoy Ghosh, Saheb Chatterjee,Chandreyee Ghosh,Supriya Debi

Biswajit Krishnakishore Mukherjee and Lolita Tanima Sen live in Kolkata with daughter Tota Simli Paul. Their son Abhimanyu Gaurav Chatterjee is mentally-challenged after a freak accident during Saraswati Pooja when he was a boy. Though he is under the constant surveillance of Dr. Chatterjee Soumitra Chatterjee and also goes to a special school,his condition shows no improvement. Lolita is always worried about Abhimanyus future.

The film is filled with sub-plots and characters that sometimes seem to pop out of nowhere. Though Tanima tries her best to correlate the m all,there is confusion rather than clarity. The worst in the entire scenario are the episodes featuring veteran Supriya Devi she is actually approaching 80 dressed up like a 38-year-old god-woman clothed in bright red. Who she is,how she features in the lives of Lolitas family and what she or her young attendant are doing in this story remains a mystery.

At the same time,the story focusses on a subject never dealt with before in Indian cinemathe destiny of mentally-challenged children after their parents are no more. It also touches issues of how government officers place roadblocks on issues having to do with these children.

The music,the songs,their positioning and their renditions are the highest points in this film. Veteran actor Mrinal Mukherjee sings a Tagore song Prangoney ei shirish shakhaye beautifully,along with other singers. The title song Pather sheshe is also placed tellingly within the narrative. The top credits for the acting should rightfully belong to Gaurav Chatterjee,grandson of Uttam Kumar,who does a wonderful portrayal of a patient suffering from regressive personality disorder with incredible realism. Tanima Sen and Krishnakishore are very good but Soumitra somehow does not seem to have his heart in the role or in the film,. Shaheb Chatterjee tends to overdo his act while Chandreyee is wasted in an inane role. The same goes for Sujoy,who plays Totas fiance.

RATINGS: The three stars are for the songs and music,the courageous storyline and the acting.