A thrilling recreation

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Chittagong

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It’s a lost generation perhaps. Fired by the ideal to exterminate the British colonialists, a group of boys and girls, barely out of their teens, gave up their homes, families and eventually their lives during the freedom struggle.

It’s a vital chapter in history, set in an area of tumult (now in Bangladesh), which tends to be undervalued, if not overlooked.
Defying movie bazaar norms, Chittagong co-written and directed by Nasa scientist Bedabrata Pain, is an example of technical style yoked to solid content. Although completed on a lean budget, the film’s look is impressive and the screenplay is focused on a young revolutionary who would rather die than buckle before the British Raja sahebs.
Although Ashutosh Gowariker’s Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, also an important work, dealt with the same subject, Bedabrata’s approach and interpretation are entirely different. In Chittagong delayed in the release because of the thematic clash with Gowariker’s effort, the relationship between Jhunku, an idealistic boy (Delzad Hiwale) and the subversive schoolteacher Surya Sen (Manoj Bajpayee), is infinitely more complex. It would seem that the boy is almost hypnotised by the teacher who leads the cause with single-minded determination.
As enacted by Bajpayee, Surya Sen, is a man who breaks into convulsive tears on losing his young soldiers in a skirmish. Yet the tragedies further fuel his mission. The actor portrays the man, without any traces of heroism. Rather he makes the legendary freedom fighter humane. Martyrdom is not his alone. The honour belongs as much to his followers, who do succeed in shaming the British overlords, swanning at a club displaying that signboard, “Dogs and Indians not allowed.” Bajpayee is consistently enigmatic, using his coal ember-eyes, an unfathomable half-smile and voice modulations to do justice to the memory of Surya Sen.
While Sen is portrayed with complexities, Jhunku is an effective counterpoint: simple and socialistic, forsaking effete piano lessons and higher studies at Oxford University. Coerced to rat on Surya Sen, he opts to be imprisoned, tortured and finally picks up the gauntlet bequeathed by his mentor.
Other characters are etched with fainter dimensions, be it the lovelorn pair (Nawazuddin Siddique-Vega Tamotia) or the British governor who’s too benevolent to be true, yet played with palpable empathy by Barry John. The Hindu-Muslim divide in the ruralsides is touched upon only in passing, and the tempo does lose its momentum towards the centrepoint of the dramaturgy. The concluding half hour, though, accelerates speed and is extremely moving in its re-staging of a real-life uprising of the 1930s. An interview at a hospital with a real-life nonagenarian survivor, adds to the poignance.
Bedbrata Pain’s direction discloses the intensity which is a given with commitment, aided by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s evocative music score and Ed Zimmerman’s polished cinematography. Credible performances by the ensemble cast, are topped by an inspired one from Delzad Hiwale as Jhunku. And, of course, Manoj Bajpayee’s implosive act adds majorly to the forceful impact of Chittagong. It’s worthy of an immediate look by cinema connoisseurs.