At a Glance-
Directed By
Srijit Mukherji
Produced By
Shrikant Mohta and Mahendra Soni
Written By
Srijit Mukherji
Screenplay
Srijit Mukherji
Primary Cast
Sara Sengupta as Uma
Zara Sengupta
Jisshu Sengupta as Himadri
Anjan Dutt as Brahmananda
Sayantika Banerjee as Menoka
Srabanti Chatterjee as Mariyam
Rudranil Ghosh as Gobindo
Anirban Bhattacharya as Mohitosh Sur
Babul Supriyo
Gargi Roychowdhury
Film Review
Uma, In India, it is the name of the Hindu goddess, who is more commonly known as Parvati. Metaphorically, Uma also implies the Sun and especially Sunrise. At times very small things may bring much more happiness than bigger and “better” ones. Look around you and notice things. An innocent toothless smile, a good laugh, a good movie, an old song bringing back memories of yesteryears, a warm embrace, a child cuddling up to you or falling asleep in your arms, prayers, a flock of birds in the sky, a beautiful sunrise or sunset and so on can bring a lot of joy. Unwind and just let yourself free. You’ll see beauty all around you; beauty that is uplifting and all encompassing.
Srijit Mukherji’s Uma is an ingenious feature film inspired from the true story of Evan Leversage, a Canadian boy who was diagnosed with a terminal disease. The people of St George in Ontario, Canada, came together to celebrate an early Christmas for Evan because doctors feared he might not make it until December. Uma is a film which unearths the moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be. The Director amalgamates a various emotions together not just to blossom the title of the Film, but also to make sure that Every scene should be able to answer three questions: “Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don’t get it? Why now?
If I begin with Sara who plays Uma in the film, I feel, she has defined the storytelling of the film. All tales, then, are at some level a journey into the woods to find the missing part of us, to retrieve it and make ourselves whole. Storytelling is as simple – and complex – as that. That’s the pattern. That’s how we tell stories. The protagonist, Uma, unveils the truth that after making sure that the terrain would be undisputedly its own, the sun slowly and majestically emerged from its resting place and established absolute dominion in a matter of seconds, blissfully unaware that its conquest would not last for more than a day. Its swift triumph was marked by an explosion of radiance which overawed nature for a brief moment; therewith an orgy of birdsong, corrupted by sporadic and pretentious cocks’ crowing, marked the beginning of another day.
Jisshu Sengupta was just brilliant. He gave a new definition to the word ‘struggle’. Struggle is the food from which change is made, and the best time to make the most of a struggle is when it’s right in front of your face. Now, I know that might sound a bit simplistic. But, too often we’re led to believe that struggling is a bad thing, or that we struggle because we’re doing something wrong. I disagree. The screenplay was so melodic that it impelled us to look at struggle as an opportunity to grow. True struggle happens when you can sense what is not working for you and you’re willing to take the appropriate action to correct the situation. Those who accomplish change are willing to engage the struggle.
Apart from these two father daughter duo, Anjan Dutt played his part with perfection. Uma is a film about Life and way we celebrate it despite the sorrows’ and the grief. Uma wants a life that sizzles and pops and makes her laugh out loud. And she don’t want to get to the end, or to tomorrow, even, and realize that her life is a collection of meetings and pop cans and errands and receipts and dirty dishes. She wants to eat cold tangerines and sing out loud in the car with the windows open and wear pink shoes and stay up all night laughing and paint my walls the exact colour of the sky right now. She wants to sleep hard on clean white sheets and throw parties and eat ripe tomatoes and read books so good they make me jump up and down, and she wants her everyday to make God belly laugh.
The Creation of the Durga Puja portrayed several metaphorical meaning to the plot. With the song, ‘jaago Uma’ by Rupankar Bagchi acting as a catalyst, it flips the side that Life is, in fact, a battle. Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting, but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small, and mankind generally unhappy. But the world as it stands is no narrow illusion, no phantasm, no evil dream of the night; we wake up to it, forever and ever; and we can neither forget it nor deny it nor dispense with it. The Celebration also reflects the theme that if you celebrate your differentness, the world will, too. It believes exactly what you tell it—through the words you use to describe yourself, the actions you take to care for yourself, and the choices you make to express yourself. Tell the world you are one-of-a-kind creation who came here to experience wonder and spread joy.
Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If we never experience the chill of a dark winter, it is very unlikely that we will ever cherish the warmth of a bright summer’s day. Nothing stimulates our appetite for the simple joys of life more than the starvation caused by sadness or desperation. In order to complete our amazing life journey successfully, it is vital that we turn each and every dark tear into a pearl of wisdom, and find the blessing in every curse.
Anupam Roy’s Music and the lyrics were just brilliant especially for the song ‘Aloshyo’. Srijit Mukherji’s Uma is embarking on a prestigious journey. The film is an official selection at many film festivals around the world. It has been confirmed as an official selection at the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) 2018, London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) 2018 and the India Film Festival of Alberta (IFFA) 2018.
Uma is a must watch for everyone. It pot rays Struggle, Love, Bonding, grief, Loss , Joy, Defeat and Hope. Maybe we’re just falling stars; we once danced in the same skyline looking down at the world. And we’ve fallen like all others, from near and far, we’ve gathered together, but separated by time and space, keeping a part of that light that we’ve came with and spreading it in this dark world that we’ve chosen to live in, in order to shine some light and love around. Maybe we’ve chosen to believe one truth today, and find it to be false tomorrow. Maybe we’re trying to not get attached to the idea that we now know it all. At night, we see the truth of where we’ve fallen from, gazing in that night sky full of distant stars, constellations, planets, the reflection of the sun on the moon, all with their own stories to tell. Sometimes we wonder why would we leave such a mysterious place, with an infinite amount of stories and wonders. Maybe it’s because as stars we could’ve only seen each other’s light from afar, but here we can listen more carefully to each other’s story, embrace each other and kiss, discover more and more of what can be seen when infinite star dust potential is put into one body and given freedom to walk the Earth and wander, love and enjoy every moment until coming back. Maybe in the morning, we’ll only see one star shining up there and forget the others. Maybe that is also how life and death is, and the beauty of the sunrise and sunset that come in between, our childhood years and old years, when we reflect on the stars that we once were and that we will once again be.
Maybe, just maybe.
Overall Rating- 4.3/5
Verdict- Must Watch
Reviewer’s Comment- This morning I woke up before the alarm clock went off and the sky outside was a big red ocean. You’re beautiful when you’re sleeping so I spent an hour observing the way you breathe. Inhale, exhale, without a thought of tomorrow. The window was open and the air was so crisp and I couldn’t imagine how to ever ask for more than this.
Reviewed By
Sayan Basak
Kolkata
