Pokhar Ke Dunu Paar Review — Sucharita Tyagi
Insta reels, celebrity chat shows, billboards, holiday sales, currently if you are also constantly overstimulated
Jaise hi Achal Mishra ke naam se remotely bhi judi koi film ki bhanak bhi padey, turant pohoch jaao MUBI par, waheen milegi
The talented Abhinav Jha who you must also watch in Dhuin, is Sumit and equally gifted Tanya Khan Jha his bride Priyanka. Sumit aur Priyanka Darbhanga se bhag ke shaadi kar chuke hain, lekin 2 saal Dilli mein rehne ke baad, for unspecified reasons Darbhanga waapas laute hain. As Sumit tries to find a way to earn a living, Priyanka tries to reach her family and finds herself questioning her recent life choices.
Dhuin ki tarah hi the most heartbreaking thing about Pokhar is the naïve, and fruitless optimism of its protagonists. While in Dhuin Pankaj dreams of leaving Darbhanga to pursue acting, Sumit finds himself back in his hometown, maano he has come back to tell Pankaj ki baahar kuch nahi rakha, yaheen par kuch dukaan chalaao. Sumit ke dil mein ummeed hai par dimaag mein plan nahi. There is a luxurious lethargy about him, the kind of confidence some men just have, “ho jaayega, kar lenge”, usually reserved for people either with means or with nothing to lose. Frustratingly, Sumit has no means and everything to lose, hence his listlessness is extra grating like nails on a chalkboard.
To exacerbate this annoyance with Sumit, the film allows us to enter it through Priyanka. A young woman who isn’t just better equipped than Sumit to face the world with her knowledge of English and more of a go-getter, undefeated attitude, but she also is, by every measure, better than the man she married. As their relationship becomes increasingly unstable and fragile, you’re almost cheering her on, as she entertains thoughts of leaving her husband to go back to her father’s home.
In a predictable display of Indian parent cruelty, Priyanka’s family has cut her off as well, she can only get messages to her father via a neighbor. Patriarchy once again decides for a woman the rules she must confine herself within, or risk her worth coming down to absolute non-existence. Out of money and with no friends to turn to, in a town where only men are allowed to entertain the idea of self-agency, Priyanka has a sum total of zero good options.
Parth Saurabh ki likhaayi mein 4–5 cheezon par subtle but sateek tippani hai. Ek, Darbhanga mein internet saalon se pohonch gaya hai, lekin uske chalte joh possibility youth jaan gaye hain ki mumkin hai, usko reality banaane ke saadhan pohonchaane ka praayas uss gati se nahi ho hi nahi raha hai. Doosra, how the pandemic and the lockdown changed our perception of what companionship really is, once we are made to evaluate our relationships kyunki aur kuch hai nahi karne ko. Teesra, we need to change the idea of “masculinity” as we teach young men. Sumit ko jab help ki zaroorat bhi hai, na woh theek se verbalize kar paata hai, even in front of his childhood friend, and even the friend, who otherwise is kind-hearted, is able to express a whole lot beyond mumbling mildly re-assuring half promises.
Pokhar Ke Dunu Paar, which translates to both sides of the pond, is a borderline exasperating viewing experience. Priyanka’s helpless inability to choose between a rock and a hard place and Sumit’s gaslighting of her as his equally idiotic friends pull him further away from the right path will make you squirm with anger. The film’s desired effect comes out beautifully in front of Pradeep Vignavelu’s patience camerawork. He steadily, quietly, and sneakily eavesdrops on long takes of seemingly improvised conversations, giving the actors a real opportunity to play with their characters and the audience to people-watch. One scene particularly stands out — Sumit and his friends are loudly and obnoxiously getting drunk on cheap whiskey drank out of plastic cups on a balcony talking about the world and each other in all kinds of derogatory ways. As the scene begins to get on your nerves and you’re beginning to drift away from the moment and start wondering why the director is refusing to call cut, the setting changes and you realize this boy baithak is happening RIGHT outside Priyanka’s room in the dilapidated hostel they live in, she listens just on another side of her open window. While WE have been listening and slowly getting mad at these good-for-nothing idiots, so has she, her rage and agony 10 times worse than ours.
In another scene she kisses her husband almost forcefully to remind herself WHY she left her house, even if he can’t become the breadwinner for their little family, she’s hoping he at least will be able to give her some carnal joy that she can’t find anywhere.
Gradually Priyanka makes her way to a point where, like an oft-appearing unsaddled black horse with long silky black hair like her’s, she too feels unburdened and fearless enough to stand in the middle of a road, in the middle of the night and smoke a cigarette just because she wants to. But does she realize she is weighing her options? Will she be able to give words to her anguish, demand a stop to Sumit’s complacency, or be resigned to her fate like the women around her? Watch the movie on MUBI and find out.
