Suman Mukherjee’s  splendid celluloid adaptation of Tagore’s novel revolving around the conflict between the spiritual and the sensual has been enhanced by ace musician Debajyoti Mishra’s dexterity in interfusing different genres of music,conducive to the cinematic requirements. Debajyoti, an erstwhile  assistant to the legendary late Salil Choudhury , is a music director par excellence and has already won laurels for his scores in Rituparno Ghosh’s movies , worth mentioning amongst which are , Titli, Chokher Baali and Raincoat.

Chaturanga

Debajyoti-Mishra

Apart from RabindraSangeet, Mishra has captured the mystic-romantic mood of the Shachis-Damini-Sreebilash relationship using traditional folk numbers like baul, sufi numbers, keertan, gajan and kheur.While songs of Rabindranath like Matir Buker Majhey(Kabir Suman), Amaar Praner Majhe and Aalo Je Aj Gaan Korey, rendered by Parama Banerjee in her dulcet voice,admirably depict Damini’s insatiable sensual thirst, keertans like Hari Haraya (Manomoy Bhattacharya), Rup Lagi Ankhi Jhurey, (rendered brilliantly by  Raghav Chatterjee) and Bhaja Patita Udhharana (sung soulfully by debutante Arijit Chakraborty) create the perfect spiritual ambience. Mishra has exploited Shaukat Amanat Ali’s enviable vocal prowess in the sufi numbers, Allah key Nur and Maula Tere Bina.Use of original instruments like harmonium, mridanga, esraj instead of the synthetic effects have made the audio CD a connoisseurs’s delight.The theme music, (specially the restrained  use of percussions) leaves the listener yearning for more.

Reviewed by: Kaustav Goswami
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