An infant found floating in a river is adopted by fisher folk and christened ‘Jalal’. The arrival of the kid was thought to bring good luck as fishing prospered, but the craze breeds greed and contempt causing the kid to be cast away again on the river. Likewise he ends up under the care of two other men during various phases of his life, the details of which the movie seeks to delve into.

Language:
Bengali
Running Time:
121 min
Rating:
–
Release date:
4 September 2015
Directed by:
Abu Shahed Emon
Produced by:
Ebne Hasan Khan
Faridur Reza Sagar
Written by:
Abu Shahed Emon
Starring:
Arafat Rahman
Mosharraf Karim
Mousumi Hamid
Mohammad Emon
Music by:
Chirkutt Band
Shot by:
Barkat Hossain Polash
Editing by:
Abu Shahed Emon
Distributed by:
–

What’s Hot

  • Story telling is accentuated by using cinematic techniques such as deep focus cinematography to highlight important sections in the frame. For example, characters in control of the proceedings are kept near the camera in a deep focus frame while the others are kept farther away. All of them remain in focus so that scenes are seamless without needing cuts to show each character’s reactions.
  • Humour is interspersed enjoyably in the story while taking pot shots at superstitious beliefs across different sections of the society. Ranging from turning coincidences into miraculous or cursed events to opportunistic godmen performing juvenile rituals to appease gods, many of them are too hilarious apart from provoking thought.
  • A noticeable pattern is religiously observed in the narration of each phase of Jalal’s life. Lots of hope and joy to begin with and a deluge of sorrow to end each phase. But still it is not predictable as the moment of reversal is not revealed, which augurs well for the experience which keeps us guessing till the moment arrives.

What’s Not

  • The supporting character arcs are not well established and just rushed to the point when they become relevant to the central character, Jalal. The reason why the captive girl in the grownup Jalal’s story decides to embrace her fate is not convincing enough to be a case of Stockholm’s syndrome and leaves us wondering. Similar observations can be made on the Jalal’s step mother in the second phase of his life where her bonding with Jalal in the end seems far-fetched.

Badges

Screenplay
Story
Cinematography

Screened at

The Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) 2015

The Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) 2015 scheduled from Jan 6 -13, 2016 is an annual film festival organised by a film society, the Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation (ICAF), with the support of the government of Tamil Nadu, the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce and the Film Federation of India.

Event Info

Date of Screening : 10-Jan-2016
Venue and Time : Woodlands, 11.30 AM

About

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

Jalal’s Story is an attempt to capture the life of an orphaned boy, which is supported by a well-conceived screenplay, a though provoking story and a clever story telling technique to make it an interesting potpourri of entertaining events!