Monchora is the story of a charming thief, who enters a
household to steal a priceless gem, and then things get complicated with the
presence of a young woman in the household with whom he forms a mixed doubles
team and wins the Australian Open. Well, no… of course, not! What are you
thinking?
Written by Saradindu Banerjee probably in the 1950s, the
story has a certain charm unique to those times, when life was simpler and people
were innocent. A film out of such a story can be very promising if it made as a
period film or modernized suitably. Monchora does neither and falls flat as a rather
dull mish-mash.
Thieves with hearts of gold do have an appeal, if presented
intelligently but their motivations and – as importantly – modus operandi have
to engage the audience. Thieves wearing black, jumping off parapets and picking
up prawn cutlets instead of jewellery could work in a French farce but one needs
that mood to hold from start to finish.
Apart from not being updated psychologically, the film
doesn’t even keep pace in physical terms. So, Rs 3000 is made to seem like a
large amount when a wastrel asks for it – a sum unlikely to last more than half
an evening in the places he seems to be frequenting with his lady love. Calcutta’s
police chief is constantly hobnobbing with a man whose weekly expenses are no
more than Rs 7500 and who doesn’t seem to have any known source of income or power.
Another thing about this film – and most Sandeep Ray films –
is the juvenile art direction. A supposedly priceless ruby looks like child’s trinket,
bigger and redder than a sugary lozenge. In another scene, a very expensive diamond
ring looks like something you’d pick off those temporary stalls that come up
during the Pujas. Bengali cinema is no longer hamstrung by low budgets and
surely, there are enough jewellery brands – or visual effects studios – who can
make these look a bit more believable. This is even more jarring because there
are much better looking Bengali films nowadays and certainly the days of clunky
sets and props are behind us.
The lead players – especially Saswata Chatterjee – bring in
their considerable charisma but the script lets them down and they seldom look
more than cardboard cutouts. This story and these characters would have done
great in the times of Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen – backed by some kickass
music – but in the present day and age, it just doesn’t cut ice.
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