Pratyabartan: Anjan Dutt, Roopa Ganguly come together in Bengali film on social media impact

Let’s be honest. How much time do we spend on our mobile phones, endlessly browsing through apps? The digital world has undoubtedly made our lives smaller in many ways. It allows us to know more, travel virtually and understand our surroundings better. But has it also alienated us from our own selves and from our closest friends and family? Don’t we chat more on ‘WhatsApp’ than talk over the phone? Don’t we read social media posts more than we read books?

A similar story unfolds in young director Samarpan Sengupta’s new Bengali film ‘Pratyabartan’. Dr Dipankar Sanyal (Silajit Majumder) and his wife, Shalini (Aparajita Addhya), relocate to Kolkata from a remote village in Purulia in search of a better life for their daughter, Disha. But in the race for success, the daughter grows up in loneliness and turns to the digital world for escape, only to land herself in trouble.

In ‘Pratyabartan’, the message is loud and clear. It is a story of our times. The film reflects fast-changing cities, the relentless race for success, the glitter of social media and people who slowly lose themselves while trying to live a ‘better life’. Written and directed by Sengupta, the film brings together two powerful actors of Bengali cinema, Anjan Dutt and Roopa Ganguly, who play grandparents in this ensemble. Their pairing instantly takes us back to Aparna Sen’s important 1995 film ‘Yugant’. The film also stars Kharaj Mukherjee and Koneenica Banerjee.

“None of the characters in my film are imaginary. They reflect who we are. They represent the loneliness inside many urban homes in today’s India. people who want to talk again, listen again and truly live again,” said Sengupta.

He is quick to clarify, however, that ‘Pratyabartan’ is not a preachy film. “My movie only holds up a mirror to society. It is a story of human strength and the courage to face hard times,” he added.