Posto
Let me narrate the story character wise:
Grandfather – Played by Soumitro.
Soumitro is a Professor in a Shatiniketan college and he is very good at his work. So good that his retirement age was extended by 3 more years – he retired at the age of 63. But good people have enemies – people are envious of good people who are especially famous for their goodness….this is the most common human psychology – whether you live in a peaceful and tranquil environment like Shantiniketan or in the hustle bustle of a gambling and boozing city like Las Vegas!
SO how do we know that people are jealous of him?
Because he could not recruit his own elder son as a teacher (faculty) in the same college – in spite of the fact that his son was intelligent and eligible for the post…politics was played – dirty politics and his son could not get a job in the college – he became frustrated and committed suicide!
His younger son (played by Jisshu)was a bit mediocre – and not as versatile or intelligent as his elder brother. He was constantly compared with his elder brother and was made to feel miniscule by the father all the time. Everytime the father and son faced each other, SOumitro had some negative remark for Jisshu. Since his childhood he was never appreciated by the father and this turned him into an unconfident sissy character who was constantly at war with his father and himself. He tried to reach the standards set by his father but failed miserably at it. He moves out of Shantiniketan and tried to settle in Kolkata.
He meets a girl -an orphan- (played by Mimi) and they do the needful before wedlock. In a haste they both had to get married because she got pregnant. Jisshu was after all from a simple background and somehow tried to adhere to his father’s principles …be good, do good kinds…so he married Mimi and took responsibility of the child – Posto.
Now both Jisshu and Mimi were young so they give their new born baby to the grandparents…Mimi had to take injection to stop the breast milk!! (Please note – The professor was pretty well off getting good pension – amazing that they could not take care of their daughter-in-law for at least 1 year till the time she was feeding the baby…or maybe it was their decision – to be independent…the baby would have been a barrier for a working woman so conveniently they left the child with the grandparents!
So both Jisshu and Mimi were having a good time in the city and on weekends they came to visit their child! Jisshu could not stick to a single job for long and in 7 years he changes 6 jobs. Mimi got a job in the loan department where she had to deal with illiterate truck drivers and get after them to pay the dues…she had to be touring all the time chasing people who had taken loan!
Jisshu could not tolerate business minded bosses and the bosses also could not tolerate an extremely impractical and sissy Jisshu – so they kicked him out of his job all the time! Mimi patiently consoled him…..too patient in fact! Jisshu was speedily turning in a drunkard – drinking all the time to hide from his own failures….Mimi had no where to go – she was an orphan after all – so she stayed put with failure Jisshu!
Anyways, Jisshu gets an offer from his childhood friend to settle in London and take care of his chain of restaurants. Jisshu and Mimi decide to now take Posto along with them – Posto was old enough now – potty training was over, he could eat himself and even take a bath himself – he was seven years old after all!
Soumitro knew of his son’s mediocrity and he was uncertain whether he can cope up with a new job in a new country! He tried to stop them from taking Posto. They reach the court. Parents win because Soumitro could not bear to see his grandchild – Posto – suffer.
Court room dialogues are very hilarious! Paran Bandopadhyay is awesome – he talks about the definition of modernity and progressiveness as understood by the current generation.
Must see film.
Eye opener for fathers especially. Parents should not compare offspring…. nor should they force their children to become something they want. They should respect their ward’s choices too.
PS- About Posto: In the title song, it is shown that Posto comes back from school and creates a complete pandemonium in the household – spilling stuff, disturbing the domestic helper…and he jumps on his bed with his shoes on! EEKS!! – what kind of upbringing was he getting from his grandparents?!! We consider such things as extremely ill-mannered…Bangla kotha – Choto lok! – I mean – shoes on the bed!? How stupid is that?! We even keep a shoe rack outside the house so that we don’t enter with the outside shoes carrying the dirt of the streets!And we did this when we were young children – this is the bare minimum manners!
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