RAY MOVIE REVIEW: The rock created by the maestro is too hard too break.
Ray is a blend of crazy ideas and an extraordinary life given to Satyajit Rays, the legendary filmmaker.
The weekend has arrived, and with it comes fresh stuff! Abhishek Chaubey, Vasan Bala, and Bengali filmmaker Srijit Mukerjee have reinvented and directed four Satyajit Ray short stories, each in their unique style, to give a modern touch and pay honor to his age-old works. Ray is an anthology of four stories that span four different universes and take you on a joy ride that lasts at least 60 minutes each. The anthology begins with Mukerjee’s Forget Me Not, a film starring Ali Fazal.
Spotlight, Bahurupi, Barin Bhowmik-er Byaram, and Bipin Chowdhury-r Smritibhrom are four of Ray’s short stories retold in Netflix’s Ray.
Spoiler Alert
Set in modern-day Mumbai, Ali plays Ipsit Nair, a successful corporate climber who has won entrepreneur of the year and is often referred to as someone with “computer memory.” When an old flame bumps into him, his immaculate family life starts to break apart, and he spirals down too fast. While Ali shines in his performance with a firm grasp on his remarkable accent, the supporting cast also delivers. The anthology’s “episodes” are films, and Forget Me Not is a good place to start with a heady combination of drama and revenge
The next film in the sequence is Kay Kay Menon’s Bahrupriya, which is also directed by Mukerjee. The fascinating realm of makeup and prosthetics is combined with an unsuspecting psychopath played by Kay Kay Menon in this bizarre anthology set in Kolkata. Though hazy at begin, Bahrupriya rapidly settles into a groove, and Kay Kay Menon shines in his performance as usual. Mukerjee portrays Kolkata as a character in and of itself, showing the city’s rains, theatre, and inhabitants. Bahrupriya, being the second picture in the anthology, will compel you to see the other two.
Following these two dramatic and powerful minutes, Abhishek Chaubey’s lovely film Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa serves as a welcome diversion. This hilarious short film, starring Manoj Bajpayee and Gajraj Rao, follows the trip of a famous Urdu poet and a wrestler who meet on a railway voyage. This film is fun, funny, and entertaining because it depicts the two in a small railway cabin yet does not lose its attractiveness with foolish dialogue. While Manoj and Gajraj are both excellent actors who live up to their billing, the dialogues in the film are a breath of fresh air.
Vasan Bala’s Spotlight, if we had to pick one film out of the four that didn’t quite hit the mark and was a little dubious, would be it. This short film, starring Harsh Vardhan Kapoor, Chandan Roy Sanyal, and Radhika Madan, is about a superstar attempting to reclaim the spotlight. You might find yourself attempting to figure out what’s going on and why as a self-proclaimed goddess (Radhika Madan) plays spoilsport. While there are a few laughs here and there, the picture also contains several filmy formulaic conversations, which is understandable. Few scenes in Spotlight are unexpected, given Bala’s Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota. While Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor does not impress, Chandan Roy Sanyal, who plays his manager, does. Spotlight, on the other hand, will delight true movie buffs who can detect all the Scorsese and De Niro connections. Few scenes in Spotlight are unexpected, given Bala’s Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota. While Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor does not impress, Chandan Roy Sanyal, who plays his manager, does. Spotlight, on the other hand, will delight true movie buffs who can detect all the Scorsese and De Niro connections.
My take on this anthology
Satyajit Ray’s stories are simple yet complicated, which is what makes them so remarkable. True, there is suspense and ambiguity in the plot, but it is also so simple to follow that you will find yourself scratching your head and giggling when the twist concludes. Ray on Netflix, on the other hand, gets more intricate and gory than Ray’s original works to go deeper and pack on the psychological parts of it.
Is this a good thing or a negative thing? Not really, but it also falls short of capturing Ray’s works’ simplicity and subtlety. Sure, the shock aspect is there, and I found myself cringing a few times, but when everything finally came to a head, it didn’t provide me with the same sense of joy and uncertainty.
Another thing that struck me as strange about Ray is how many intimate scenes the series had when it wasn’t necessary. I realize that you want to add your spin to the narrative, but why must it always be about physical intimacy? If you’ve read or heard the original stories (Sunday Suspense, this one’s for you!) there’s something so familiar and naive about them that gets lost in the Netflix series. In my Ray review, I won’t reveal any details about the plot or how they vary, but I believe I was dissatisfied in some way.
Ray is unpleasant to be around. If you just watch the stories, they’re extremely thrilling. In my perspective, Bahrupiya and Forget Me Not were the weakest of the four, but Hungama Kyon Hai Barpa was entertaining, especially because of the characters. There’s something magical about seeing Manoj Bajpayee and Gajraj Rao together. Kay Kay Menon, on the other hand, is fantastic. I don’t think I can comment on the performances of such giants; they’re always fantastic and a joy to watch on film.
With that stated, I’m curious as to why Ray’s protagonists, who were predominantly male throughout his works, couldn’t have been replaced with female characters. Women in Ray’s works are largely there to fulfill men’s desires or to serve as pawns in their games, which wasn’t the case in Ray’s early works. I’m not sure why this was included, or what the anthology, or any of the tales in it, hoped to achieve by including it.
To be honest, neither of Mukherji’s entries piqued my interest. The spotlight was primarily hot and cold, but Hungama Kyon Hai Barpa was the most intriguing and exciting. I recall listening to Spotlight, which was delightful, perplexing, and hilarious. That feeling from the short was missing from my life. It is, however, still superior to the first two.
The series is about the various stages and frailties of men, sorry, human beings. Does it stand out when it comes to taking it forward? That’s a bit of a grey area.
Ray is streaming on Netflix
