Just an ordinary day

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Movie
German title Just an ordinary day
Original title এক দিন প্রতিদিন
(Ek Din Pratidin)
Country of production India
original language Bengali
Publishing year 1979
length 87 minutes
Rod
Director Mrinal Sen
script Mrinal Sen
production Mrinal Sen
music BV Karanth
camera KK Mahajan
cut Gangadhar Naskar
occupation

A Quite Ordinary Day ( Bengali এক দিন প্রতিদিন ek din pratidin ) is an Indian feature film by Mrinal Sen from 1979. It was based on the short story Abirata Chenamukh by Amalendu Chakraborty , published in 1975 .

action

The Sengupta family of seven lives in Kolkata in a former stately home with a large courtyard that is used as a multi-party apartment building. They belong to the middle class, but after their father's retirement they depend on the income of their 25-year-old oldest daughter, Chinu. The father's pension is only enough for the rent, the two youngest siblings Jhunu and Poltu are still going to school, the middle sister Minu is going to college, the mother is a housewife and the oldest brother Topu is unemployed.

One evening, Chinu doesn't come home from work at the usual time. At first, the family believes that they have to work overtime. However, when the middle sister Minu calls the office, no one answers there anymore. Since Chinu has been overdue for more than an hour, the father goes to the tram stop where Chinu has to arrive and waits. Since she does not even take the last tram of the day, he returns home even more worried than before.

It has not gone unnoticed among the other residents that the Senguptas miss their daughter. Word got around quickly all over the house. Most tenants find the young woman's absence scandalous, make poisonous remarks and are curious. Few like Shyamal show real concern.

Chinu's eldest brother drives with his friend Amol to the nearest police station to file a missing person report. On the recommendation of the police officer, they continue to drive to the morgue as a precaution, but the sister is not there. The policeman now comes to the Senguptas for a home visit and asks Minu about the appearance, clothing and physical characteristics of the missing persons. He tells them that a young woman in an early pregnancy and wearing similar clothing has jumped off a train. She is in a local hospital with serious injuries. The father drives to the hospital with the neighbor Shyamal and Topu and Amol also arrive there. The suicide patient dies, but to her relief it turns out that it was not Chinu.

The family sits down together that night when Minu discovers that no one in the family has cared for Chinu's life and that everyone was only looking for their benefit from Chinu's financial support. When Chinu comes home early in the morning, she is eyed reproachfully and suspiciously by her family. She does not give the reason for her absence and, to her amazement, the others do not ask where she was last night. The landlord urges the father to move out as quickly as possible, because his house is a house for decent people.

Awards

The film won three National Film Awards for Best Director , Best Editing, and Best Film in Bengali . It was also shown in competition at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival .

Reviews

The lexicon of international film sees the film as a “carefully staged, sensitive description of the existential problems of a population whose traditional social norms can no longer be brought into line with the real social and economic situation”.

literature

  • Ek Din Pratidine . In: Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen: Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema , 1999, p. 440

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Just an ordinary day. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 9, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used