Chittagong | The Critique

One of the biggest turn-offs in any movie about a real incident is the exaggeration of valiance. Heroes, who are supposed to be real, are made to look like legends. More than often, they fell short. Chittagong steers away from this. Characters are strong but vulnerable. Their fears are real and bravery is not extraordinary in magnitude. They are more closer to what they were in reality, not folklore.

 

They story is coming of age tale of a young boy Jhunku who has a faint understanding of what Masterda (Surya Sen played by a brilliant but subtle Manoj Bajpayee). The movie is like Jhunku's diary where he describes his initial resistance to the movement due to personal terms with Magistrate, his disenchantment, how Armory raid was conducted and how were the revolutionaries hunted. In the end, Jhunku returns to his place only to start another movement.

 

Script is the real hero of this movie. They was story unfolds in front of viewer is simply amazing. There are not many powerful dialogues or out of the box scenes because they are not required. People don't say punch dialogues in real life. Performance wise, each and every actor has given a very disciplined performance without going over the board. I wonder, how I saw Manoj Bajpayee and Nawazuddin Siddique on screen but failed to notice them. They were just two revolutionaries from an era my grandfather might have seen.

 

Cinematography was exceptional. I remember The Bridge Over River Kwai. The scenes where villages are shown. The scene where railway track and woods are shown. Brilliant, in one word. Last but the most important thing, direction... Bedabrata Pain gave so much for this movie and the result shows that. The way characters and most importantly actors have been handled in this movie, its something sort of exceptional.

 

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh