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Adalat O Ekti Meye - Tapan Sinha's work is way ahead of its time in this Bangla throwback film


#TapanSinha is one of the unsung heroes of Bangla cinema. He was part of the quartet that included #Ray, #Ghatak and MrinalSen. Sinha’s stood out for his deep understanding of the psyche of the Bengali common man and his films were considered middle-of-the-road cinema, striking a fine balance between parallel and mainstream. He was conferred the #DadaSahebPhalke award.


ASHOK’s FIVE reviews #TapanSinha’s #AdalatOEktiMeye, a seminal work way ahead of its times and released in 1982. The film is available on @MUBI.


Urmila Chatterjee (#TanujaMukherjee) is a school teacher in Kolkata and lives with her father. She and her colleagues go on a holiday to Gopalpur where a bunch of four men rape her and leave her to die on the beach. She survives and fights a misogynist and male-chauvinist society to seek justice. A lone police office Gobindo (#ManojMitra) stands by her in the battle. Her ‘intellectual’ boyfriend Sujit is quick to abandon her.

Sinha’s rendition of the reactions from the society at large is the part to watch out for.


Urmila’s relatives are quick to pin the fault on her and the way she has been brought up by her father. At his office, Urmila’s father is harangued by his boss. In one scene he puts up a placard on his desk that reads “My raped daughter is doing fine”. In an exaggerated bid, his boss talks of a case in the US where a raped woman develops mental problems and wants to undergo the ordeal again.


The school is prompt to expel her. At the Court, Urmila is put to mental torture as the opposition lawyer attacks her with sarcastic jibes. The accused turn out to be students from wealthy and influential families, The families try to turn on political pressure on the administrative machinery. In the process, Mitra finds himself suspended and facing an enquiry.


#Tanuja puts in one of her best performances and finds courage to stand up and fight. The last scene of the film has the feisty Gobindo striding down a beach with the wind in his face and a resolve in his stride. He knows that he has stood up for his convictions. The film won Sinha the National Award for Best Feature film in Bengali.


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