She’s
The giver of life
The carer
The protector
The preliminary source of knowledge
The lover
The wife
The daughter
The daughter in law
The sister
The list goes on…
Bulbbul, without much ado, starts with the close-up of young feet, the owner of which is shown a couple of seconds later. The feet are skilfully painted with red alta liquid and washed – a tradition that exalts the virtues of women both young and old, appreciating and worshipping them. The older women are celebrated as they are deemed to hold the key to luck and success of their husbands. The younger girls are feted for their potential for life, love and happiness of the family she’s married to and the community to which she belongs.
That said, the story of Bulbbul is anything but. These traditions are an excuse for patriarchy to choose a path of life for girl children until death. Before these children realize what a husband means, they are married to someone decades older, even at the tender age of 5!
Clearly, this is the norm for many communities in India at large. And Bulbbul is about the power a women ultimately comes to possess when push comes to shove and she can’t go any further.
How many of them do we know whose
Thoughts have been curtailed
Dreams have been crushed
Opportunities have been squandered
And everything has been swept under the carpet of patriarchy, tradition, log kya kahenge and the promise of a life of opulence, provided the woman keeps her silence.
The silence could be about the abuse at the hands of people at her husband’s household or the husband himself – a woman’s household is also the unsafest place for her in the entire world!
Bulbbul narrates the story of such a woman in a ‘Gothic’ way. It’s 18th century Bengal. There’s a haveli and Bulbbul is married into a rich, aristocratic family at the age of 5. Rahul Bose plays both her husband and his brother with panache. Pauli Dam as Chotti Bahu does complete justice to her role.
It’s Tripti Damri with her ethereal looks and playful, sassy demeanor that takes this story forward.
Innocent, tender, vulnerable, romantic, vengeful, humorous – she’s a breath of fresh air when it comes to portraying these emotions with ease. The character could have gone either way, but Tripti plays it to perfection. She’s a welcome addition to the new crop of fantastic actresses to grace the silver screen and OTT channels to include Kiara Advani of Lust Stories fame, Saiyami Kher from Anurag Kashyap’s Chocked and Radhika Madan from Vasan Bala’s Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota (a theatrical release).
Every scene is a work of art by itself – kudos to the art, sound effect and other technical teams. The aesthetics, the graphics and music by Amit Trivedi also play an important part in making this story grow on us and it certainly does.
I am quite certain that as we reach the climactic scenes, our eyes either well up or the brain is flooded with a lot of thoughts. Either way, this means Bulbbul has done its job.
Anvita Dutt, who has written a lot of songs we adore, marks her entry into film direction. And what an entry!
Summing up,
You can beat the body to a pulp, but you just cannot kill the spirit!
Catch Bulbbul by all means on Netflix to understand the significance of this line!
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