When you’re bored and hungry and the crowded, sweaty compartment of Bangaon Local takes your breath away, a hawker will magically come and sell you a slice of Dilkhush at a bargain price. You know it’s not made with healthy ingredients, you know it’s not that hygienic since it’s served on a sheet of newspaper, you even know it won’t taste very good, but it’s still there. Most movies and series broadcast on Hoichoi do the same.
Recently, when I had to catch the last few trains on the commuter route, I could see daily commuters watching an episode of Hoichoi with earplugs – they looked very tired and exhausted, but they were watching it anyway. Although I also saw a man dozing off while the video continued to play in his hand.
Rahul Mukherjee follows a familiar template in many ways – this kind of multiple love stories intersecting with each other is a successful format in Bengali cinema often attributed to Moinak Bhowmik and Pratim D Gupta, although only Bojhena Shey Bojhena is somewhat in this format. was a commercial success. mostly due to familiar faces and star power.
Ahare Mon was the last well-made film in this format and Dilkhush is a far inferior product of the same suspension. In recent years, young audiences have completely abandoned theatrical Bengali releases and the commercial success of films is entirely dependent on older audiences. Thus, Dilkhush finds two couples from the older audience in the story, though the look and feel of the film is modern and doesn’t match their story.
The producers seem confused about their target audience and the pacing suffers. Interestingly, even the name Dilkhush follows the tradition of naming films after famous Bengali dishes – Rosogolla, Projapoti Biskut, Maacher Jhol, Posto – and the director’s latest film Raisins. The films even replicate the promotional strategy of X=Prem produced by SVF and do extensive college promotions but to no avail. A film about love, especially young love, should have an abundance of fresh ideas, which Dilkhush doesn’t have, nor does it need bold attempts.
It’s hard to describe a movie like this without giving away plot elements or twists that the viewer has to experience without realizing it. So here are the basic plot outlines – not that the film is as much plot driven as it is character driven. Eight people from different age groups are matched through the newest dating app in the city called Dilkhush.
Anirban Bhattacharya voiced by Anirban Bhattacharya also has AI in the film, he also does the sound recording based on the wise exposition in the film. Ironically, the program’s algorithm matched the couple, who are very different from each other, and the young people come from very different social backgrounds. While this is not the case with the older couple, the film is busy letting the audience understand that they, too, may not be compatible.
Here, chemistry for couples seems instantaneous and unreal. Only the chemistry between the characters played by the old guards Paran Bandopadhyay and Anusuya Mukherjee managed to grab my attention and it was nice to see them play silly lovers. Kharaj Mukherjee and Aparajit Adhya get the most dramatic story (and not in a good way) with an entire subplot around a disapproving kid (played by the disastrous Ananya Sen) that we get repeated in every other Bengali film featuring an elderly couple.
The young character’s class conflict has no effect because the characters aren’t well drawn. Soham Majumdar and Madhumita Sarjar’s track is generic and contains the tropes of escapism and fake kidnapping. Madhurima is in her melodramatic self and the film even addresses her by saying that Bengali audiences only watch melodramatic acting these days. Soham is a skilled actor with brilliant comic timing, but he falls flat in serious scenes. He gets an explosion scene that any actor with a theater background would enjoy, but it’s straight out of a movie. wide lens, so one can only assume the wear that resulted in such an editing choice.
The film is full of sharp transitions and the editing does the film no service. Modhura Palit’s cinematography gives the film a very neon look and she captures Kolkata with great love. The film features the Rabindra Sarovar lake and the window wall of the Artsy cafe, showing the director’s extreme laziness in trying to find fresh places to set up the romance. The reveal takes place on a Rainy Night and the streets are lit up with red, blue, e and pink neon lights, giving the film an almost comic book look. Although, the same becomes a drag when the cinematographer cannot maintain the same look for later scenes due to lack of budget.
.Soham and Madhumita Sosurbari recreate the song from Zindabad. While faking names at the hotel reception, Soham’s character introduces himself as Raj, leading the audience to expect Madhumita to say Simran as the camera pans slowly towards her.
But Madhumita replies to Subhashree, which I think was an extremely clear joke to subvert the audience’s expectations with a local reference. But the humorous moments are few and far between. The songs are quite catchy and Sajoni is already a big hit. Although beautifully rendered, they mostly do nothing but stop the display.
Dilkhush is another lackluster attempt that might give the audience some nostalgia but hardly lift their spirits enough to make a lasting impression. Even if they tried to use technology like Love Today in everyday life a few months ago, it might have been a bold attempt. But the film is set in the year 2023 with a very dated giant Smaranjit Chakraborty suffering from a hangover (Bengali readers will know what I’m talking about).