Berlin
‘Baksho Bondi’ (‘Shadowbox’) is in the Perspectives section, which is a “brand new first feature competition showcasing emerging cinema talents” and this film enjoyed its world premiere at the festival…
By Suman Bhuchar
SET in Kolkata, it begins in the early morning with a busy and harried mum, Maya (Tillotama Shome) slaving over a cooking pot , whilst living in cramped accommodation, trying to wake up her son Debu (Sayan Karmakar) to go to school and get his father, Sundar (Chandan Bisht) to get ready to go to the barbers.
She’s flitting around trying to find her husband’s papers to get work and after giving instructions to him leaves on her bike – in what seems like a ride to freedom in the wide space outside street and the scenes change from the confined home.
The camera does get very close up to convey the claustrophobia. She seems to do several jobs to keep the family afloat, as it’s clear dad is not the bread winner.
Maya is strong, silent and stoic but definitely the boss. After she’s delivered some ironed clothes she goes to work at someone’s house cleaning and later we see her at a chicken farm.
Husband Sundar doesn’t say much but he’s clearly scared of the barber where he’s going to have a shave.
Maya’s role is to try and get him a job, while his is to sabotage the job; but, his hobby is to collect frogs to give to colleges. (I assume no frogs were hurt in the making of this film) while the kid Debu when not in school, practices dance moves with his imaginary friend Shunto….to the title rap track which is very upbeat, although the rest of the film is quiet in tone. It is directed by Tanushree Das and Saumyananda Sahi.
Clearly, Sundar is suffering from post trauamtic stress disorder (PTSD) and mental illness and when not collecting frogs, he is drinking with his friend.
However, the two leads have a great chemistry and there are moving scenes of tenderness between the couple, such as when he makes tea and massages her back or later when they meet while he’s in prison.
It is obvious something happened to Sundar and he left the army under a cloud perhaps.
(As an aside, I enjoyed the dishwashing woman who bitches about human character and the next door screaming woman neighbour who accuses Sundar of being a peeping tom. Cinematography is brilliant and undertaken by Sahi, while the production design by Mausam Aggarwal is beautiful.
Suddenly one night Sundar disappears and the next day his best friend is found dead and he is accused of murdering him. At first Maya tries to hold the family together but eventually he is arrested.
Meanwhile other subplots emerge, why is Maya estranged from her mother and brother? Why did she marry Sundar? She is clearly well educated but struggling maybe through pride to hold things together and doesn’t ask for help.
Perhaps, the directorial team is not interested in some of the situations they have raised but the audience is left feeling short changed and needing some dramatic denouement.
However it is well performed, albeit a bit restrained, though aesthetically pleasing.
Acv rating: *** (out of five)
https://www.berlinale.de/en/2025/programme/202503874.html
