ROSOGOLLA: The sweetest of the sweets, the king of the sweetmeats, the decadent syrupy cottage cheese balls, the rosogolla and the making of it -beautifully captured for the first time on celluloid in ROSOGOLLA. Set in the 19th century, when Lord Canning was the Viceroy of India, Ladykeni was the popular sweet amongst the upper class. Nabin Chandra Das was just another starry eyed 20 year-old “Moira” or sweetmeat maker who dreamt of making the perfect “Roser Golla” for his paramour Khirod who later became his wife. Erstwhile Bagbazar,, where Nabin’s sweet shop was, bore the look of a busy village where unpaid dues were settled by “Lethels” or armed musclemen and the upwardly mobile jostled to get the attention of the British rulers. The lazy “babus” were shown as busy with concubines and reading the newspaper daily was considered too intellectual. Aparajita Addhya made a brief appearance as a Zamindar Ginni and stole the show effortlessly. The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 was not shown and the story remained confined to sweet shop owners, milkmen and the like. Rajatava Datta rendered a powerful performance as the rival sweet shop dealer. Subhashree made a cameo as the nautchgirl with a heart of gold (what’s new). True to tradition, girls were shown as playing with kids before marriage and were too old to be married if crossed the age of 16. The romance of Nabin and Khirod was playful and real and was evenly paced out. When happy, Nabin did a weird dance movement by clapping his hands and jumping up and down at the same time proving that Bengalis are not used to dancing naturally. Kharaj Mukherjee rendered a near perfect act as Nabin’s sweet shop helper and with his corpulent frame suited the role well. The perfect Rosogolla could be made with the help of an Englishman who had mastered the craft of manoeuvring the cottage cheese. Overwhelmed by the success of Rosogolla, Nabin went on to introduce another new sweet called Baikunthabhog and expanded his business further. It was amazing the way periodicity of the movie was maintained through and through. Shot in light sepia, the audience is able to live the movie and become part of Nabin’s pain and pleasure. Highly recommended.
AninditaRoyMusings 