Memories in March ( 2010)

This is one of the few Indian Cinema's which revolves around a female protagonist. Some parts of the movie might vaguely remind you of the movie Saaransh where Anupam Kher battles with the government policies to collect the remains of his deceased son.  Director Sanjoy Nag aptly described the move as "life after life".

Aarti Mishra ( Deepti Naval) is shattered by the news of her son's sudden death in a motor accident . She rushes from Delhi to Calcutta, where her son was living and working for an advertising firm. She is received by his co-worker Sahana Choudury ( Raima Sen) and taken to the crematorium where she gets to meet Siddharth's other co-workers including Ornab Mitra, the creative director of the firm. After the cremation, Aarti is dropped of at Siddharth's apartment. She had a vivid imagination of Siddharth's life in Calcutta through the detailed letters that he used to write to her. Sahana takes care of Aarti and helps her to find her way around. Aati's perceptibility leads her to believe that Sahana was probably Siddharth's lover.

However, she soon realizes that it is not Sahana ( though she was infatuated with Siddharth ) but Ornab that was her son's lover. This throws Aarti into an emotional whirlwind. Not only does she need to come to terms with her son's death but also the stark reality of his sexual preference. What grieves her all the more is the fact that her son chose not to confide in her about such an important part of his in spite of them sharing a very close relationship.

She starts of being resentful towards Ornab. But gradually over shared memories and common grief Aarti comes to term with the detritus left behind by her son's death and fosters a special bond with his lover.

The subject of alternate sexuality which is still a taboo in the Indian society was handled with at most sensitivity unlike several other Indian movies where it is generally used as slapstick comedy or treated with an essence of shock/awe.

Rituparno, who is open about his alternate sexuality in real life portrayed the role of Ornab to near perfection. Deepti Naval, the outstanding actress that she is,was a pleasure to watch in the role of Aarti Mishra. She beautifully expressed the emotions of being distressed over her sons demise and gradually coming to terms with his homosexuality. Her changing relationship with Ornab from indifference to dislike following by mutual respect was appealingly characterized. Raima Sen carried off her role quite extraneously as well. Every scene of the movie gradually unfolds and brings with it a fresh essence of the myriad emotions, the spoken and the unspoken both making very profound statements. Brilliant work by debutant Sanjoy Nag.

Good music by Debojyoti Mishra. I particularly liked the song Sakhi Hum .

 The movie is made mostly in English with smattering of Bengali and Hindi.  It was awarded the "Best English feature film" in the 58th National Film awards.

Verdict :- 8 out of 10. Definite watch but not for the masses.