Manikbabur Megh: Love, Up In The Clouds

Manikbabur Megh바카라�The Cloud and the Man바카라�is a film about a lonely man falling helplessly in love with a cloud. Or the other way around. It boasts of a captivating performance by Chandan Sen, a stage and screen veteran who, despite his staggering talent, continues to be Bengal바카라�s best-kept secret. The film marks the debut of a remarkable directorial voice in the form of Abhinandan Banerjee, who also wrote the screenplay. The central character of Manikbabu is an exceptional role, etched with extreme care and performed with great virtuosity by Sen.

Manikbabu revels in his loneliness바카라�his isolation is not imposed but self-inflicted. He loves nothing more than to be left to himself, tending to his dying father and to the plants on his terrace. When his father dies, the distraught but stoic Manikbabu feels a presence, a shade overhead. It seems to follow him wherever he goes. Thus begins one of the most bizarre but moving love stories to be filmed in recent times.

Sen바카라�s parents were involved in the Indian People바카라�s Theatre Association (IPTA), so theatre flourished in him organically. He has been a part of Bengali theatre ever since the late 70s. Among his teachers was the late great Utpal Dutt. It was in the mid-1980s that Sen started doing television and then graduated to the movies. Whether it was a key 바카라�supporting바카라� role or bit parts, Sen managed to leave his mark. But barring one film called Aloy Phera, where he played a member of the Lodha tribe, there have been no significant lead roles coming his way. Until now. From the first scene to the last, Manikbabur Megh sparkles with Sen바카라�s delectable performance.

So, how did he approach the role of Manikbabu, a recluse who is supposed to be in a relationship with a wisp gliding through the ether? 바카라�I imagined that it was a person I was falling in love with. To me, she was a person, not merely a cloud. I thought it best to look at it that way, at least in the beginning. But gradually, as we progressed, I began seeing it/her as a cloud,바카라� says Sen.

Throughout several interviews, Sen has been insisting that the film is, at its core, just a good old love story. But when the script reached his desk, he could immediately see it for what it was.

바카라�Fortunately, I have a bad habit of reading the likes of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Bibhutibhushan Banerjee and Rabindranath Tagore. As a result, I am aware of magic realism, and how rare it is that one encounters it in a screenplay. But when that happens, nothing could be more pleasurable,바카라� he says.

The screenplay of Manikbabur Megh had such subtlety and nuance that when he read it, Sen looked at the 23-year-old Banerjee sceptically. 바카라�I actually gave him a suspicious look. Had this boy really written THIS script?바카라�

For Banerjee, etching out the character of Manikbabu has been a lifelong quest. 바카라�The story idea wouldn바카라�t have come to me if it hadn바카라�t been for this character (of Manikbabu). For me, the cloud is a harbinger for the liberation of the character.바카라� Cinema has, for the longest time, examined loneliness in all its hues. Right from Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver) and Theodore (Her) to Fern (Nomadland), there has been a long line of lonely men and women on screen. But it is seen as an undesirable state, with characters finding ways of avoiding it or reeling from the impact of it. It is supposed to invoke pity or empathy. But for Manikbabu, loneliness is celebratory.

바카라�This character was brewing in me for a long time, and it was embedded with loneliness, but not how it is normally portrayed. It바카라�s about the acceptance and celebration of loneliness. Very spontaneously and naturally, he likes to avoid crowds. If a lift is crowded, he would gladly take the stairs. On a bench, he would shift a little only to have some space between him and the other people. It바카라�s these choices of the character that will create the resonance where a man can find that kind of connection with a cloud,바카라� explains Banerjee.

This is a hypersensitive man, one who is able to perceive things other 바카라�normal바카라� people can바카라�t. He takes care to avoid stepping on a flower, picks it up and tucks it beside his father바카라�s old tape-recorder. One outcome of his self-imposed isolation is that he barely speaks, if at all. He is not taciturn; he just doesn바카라�t feel the need to talk.

In this respect, Manikbabu바카라�s solitudinarianism brings to mind Hirayama, the central character in Wim Wender바카라�s Perfect Days. Much like Manikbabu, Hirayama likes to keep to himself. Koji Yakusho, while speaking about his performance in Perfect Days, said: 바카라�Films are expressed more powerfully in those moments that don바카라�t have the words.바카라�

Sen, whose layered performance of Manikbabu predated Yakusho바카라�s work by at least four years (Perfect Days was shot in Tokyo around 2023, while Manikbabur Megh was filmed in Kolkata in the peak summer of 2019), says what drew him to Banerjee바카라�s script was the scope for 바카라�onuchcharito shonglap바카라�, which roughly바카라�and inadequately바카라�translates to 바카라�unpronounced dialogue바카라�. What he refers to is the ability to convey the contents of dialogue without uttering a word. 바카라�One of the things that attracted me to the script was that I had to speak an infinite number of such unpronounced dialogues. In a 97-minute-long film, I got to do that for 90 minutes. It is the dream of any actor,바카라� Sen says.

For Sen, Manikbabu has been, quite literally, the role of a lifetime. 바카라�Because of their political affiliations, my parents had to often be underground and leave me to do things on my own. From a very young age, I was able to travel to school by myself or go out on the streets alone,바카라� he says. This experience of being comfortable in his own company equipped Sen with the kind of mindset that prepared him for Manikbabu. It was as if life had been preparing him for the role all along. Besides, it is his belief that the sacred duty of the actor is to observe, and especially observe those who are slightly different in some way. 바카라�An actor must see such people with a keen eye and then when the time comes, not imitate them but capture their essence,바카라� he avers.

As far as Banerjee is concerned, Manikbabu also harks back to one of Bibhutibhushan바카라�s abiding creations, one that was immortalised on the screen by another 바카라�Manik바카라�바카라�little Apu. In a poignant episode from Bibhutibhushan바카라�s Pather Panchali, Apu바카라�s father Harihar scolds the child for staring with his mouth wide open all the time. 바카라�A person like that, whose eyes are not merely recording devices, sees more than we ever can,바카라� says Banerjee. 바카라�This ability shapes their psyche,바카라� he adds. He sees himself as a smarter version of Manikbabu, he elaborates, the one who could sail through societal norms to make things happen. But why a cloud? The only parallel that comes to mind is Ritwik Ghatak바카라�s Ajantrik, in which a taxi-driver is in a dysfunctional relationship with his Chevrolet jalopy. 바카라�The film is an allegory of liberation through the force of nature. That force could very well have been a tree,바카라� explains Banerjee, 바카라�but a cloud is a mobile thing. Its shape changes, mood changes, it evolves according to seasons and times of the day.바카라�

In the end, Sen reminds us, Manikbabu is a part of us, with some notable exceptions 바카라�There바카라�s a bit of Manikbabu in all of us, except politicians and the likes of Elon Musk,바카라� says Sen.

Amborish Roychoudhury is A national film award-winning writer, biographer and film historian