Durga Sohay (Bengali, 2017)One cannot take Durga worship out of Bengali culture. In this thriller and family drama, much like the externally angry feminine power that paradoxically nurtures the worlds, in the ten days of Durga Pooja, a negative character appears in a family, blends with the family and through love and attention, changes her perspective of life for the better.
It tells the tale of an extended family which lives under one roof. An ailing widowed father who had just been discharged from a hospital for a heart attack stays with two sons, their wives and a grandson. On the surface, they all look like a big happy upper-middle-class family. The two sons run a successful jewellery started by the father. Brewing beneath is animosity between brothers and sister-in-laws. A maid is recruited to care for the father on the first day of the pooja.
Over the few days as the prayers progress, we realise that people with different demeanours, some seeming bad hearted and the kind ones, all come together with the sole purpose to be blessed by the deity. In their minds, what they are doing is perfectly reasonable. Even with ill feelings upon their servants and air of superiority over the less well to do, they feel they deserve the blessings of the Almighty.
Human beings sometimes commit crimes out of desperation to sustain their lives or by circumstance. The question is whether showing compassion and empathy can actually send a potential criminal to regret his actions and turn over a new leave. Are punitive actions necessary to create remorse or are they exercises in futility? Incarceration and capital punishments have shown to reduce crime rates, anyway.
An enjoyable flick showing a quintessential Bengali celebration, their traditions, music and Indian family values.
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