Koli (Bengali) / Outdated but watchable

D.O.P.: Barun Mukherjee

Cast: Heerak Das, Ruplekha Mitra, Rajesh Sharma, Kharaj Mukherjee,
Locket Chatterjee, Tulika Basu, Chandan Sen, Sumit Ganguly

By Shoma A. Chatterji

Koli (Ruplekha Mitra) and her widowed mother live under the care and protection of a small boy who grows up to be Shankar (Heerak Das). Koli goes to school while Shankar works as a wood-cutter. His aunt and uncle (Chandan Sen and Rita Koiral) are scared of him because working as a woodcutter has made him physically strong and he is prone to sudden violent outbursts. Much to Koli’s mother’s (Tulika Basu) dismay, who makes a poor living from selling fried fritters, Shankar loves Koli. She arranges Koli’s marriage into a family with better prospects as she does not want her daughter to get married to Shankar who is not educated and is a woodcutter. On the day of the wedding, Koli and Shankar elope and thus begins a journey that turns this ill-fated love story. The film looks a bit dated as it took two years to be filmmed. Evidently shot on a shoe-string budget, though filled with an overdose of melodrama, Koli manages to holdthe audience’s attention, mainly due to Heerak Das’ outstanding performance of Shankar. Das almost carries the film solely on his shoulders. This is only Das’ second Bengali film. He made his debut some years ago in Egaro which was a path-breaking film on football. He is not tall, dark and handsome like matinee idols are, but acts well and sees the film through a weak script that endlessly drags on beyond its time when it could have ended earlier. Ruplekha on the other hand cannot act to save her life. The rest of the film’s supporting cast is good. The film could have ended after Shankar saves the police inspector’s life and the inspector has a change of heart. But it goes on till one begins to think it will never end.
The comedy capers by Kharaj Mukherjee as the local police reduces this talented actor to a joker and takes the film down by a few notches. But Rajesh Sharma shines in his portrayal of an offbeat police officer. The music is low key and good, though the dream songs do not help in taking the film forward. A mysterious sub-plot that is never solved till the climax is the police inspector’s wife (Locket Chatterjee), who dressed up to her teeth, is waiting for her husband to go somewhere with her terrorist-like brothers who are on the way. Where are they going and why are the brothers so vindictive towards their sister’s husband is a mystery the director decides to leave unsolved.
While Koli is terribly outdated in terms of its plot, theme and story and takes us back to the 1980’s when Hindi film romantic tragedies like Ek Duje Ke Liye and Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak were prevalent, the film somehow makes for interesting viewing in a world filled with films like Yoddha and Arundhati.