Pagglait — a story told wisely
Death makes us ponder, not just merely think but actively ponder, meditate, consider the card that life has dealt and with which we are expected to make our peace, no matter the circumstances. There is something about the passing of a person, who you may or may not know closely enough, that brings out more information & stories about her/him than would have made their way to you when they were around. It’s almost like in death, a person is born again — this time solely as a character in someone else’s story.
Netflix’ newest release Pagglait deals with this very event & the after-effects of it. It is the story of Sandhya — the young widow of Astik, a man she had been married to only for a few months before his unexpected passing — and her subsequent quest to knowing her husband and ultimately her own self in the days following his death.
Pagglait does not make a big deal out of itself and that is where the beauty of this movie lies. A young man has died, the details of which are never told to the audience simply because it is not important, and his immediate family must now deal with their own emotions but also with the onslaught of relatives and friends.
The strength of Pagglait is that it understands that grief does not paint everyone in the same colour or hit everyone with the same intensity, that grief can be all consuming but still be forced to make space for the practicalities of life & all the unexpected curveballs it can throw, for instance the photo of an old flame carefully preserved by your departed husband.
Pagglait never quite believes in big showdowns that we all imagine a revelation like Astik working with an ex-girlfriend who he was clearly still in love with would have or the revelation of a rather hefty life insurance amount coming to play would have. It’s almost like it manages to bring to screen that tussle between what we imagine we would say in such situations to what actually plays out in real life. Sandhya is devastated when she uncovers Astik’s prior relationship but her interactions with Akanksha (played heartbreakingly well by Sayani Gupta) are more inquisitive than confrontational. But that mental fight is always there leading to a fantastic sequence in Akanksha’s house. Similarly, when the insurance amount comes to play, one would imagine the entire house turning upside down but again Pagglait takes the more practical approach with closed door meetings and discussions.
Another thing Pagglait gets quite right is the extended family dynamic specially in light of a life changing event. The relationships are more or less nailed. The underlying tensions, love, guilt, anger, annoyance are most beautifully portrayed by an ensemble cast par excellence. Be it the heart touching moment shared between Sandhya & her tense father-in-law as he calculates the expenses of his first born dying or the pent up frustration that underlines Sandhya’s relationship with her mother or the strange aspiration that Sandhya seems to feel vis-a-vis Akanksha who seemingly could have had it all, Pagglait is a film of quiet, reflective moments. Nothing or next to nothing is said out loud, yet the undercurrents are for all to see and feel. You may suppress a giggle at the digs Sandhya’s in-laws take at her mother in private or heave in annoyance at the loudmouth bossy uncle who has taken over the responsibility of making sure his nephew’s soul reaches its final destination without anyone on earth disrupting his route or you may shift in discomfort at the indoctrination of even the young house-help when it comes to serving Sandhya’s muslim friend.
In a film of strong performances, Sanya Malhotra as Sandhya Giri shines from the first frame to the last and has the audience firmly at her side throughout but the real breakout star if he can be called that at all is Ashutosh Rana as Shivendra Giri, Astik’s father. As a 90s child, my enduring memory of Rana is from films like Sangharsh and Dushman in which he played his characters so well that I spent 20 years of my life being terrified of the man and the film industry spent it bereft of an amazing talent. I am glad and hopeful that with this film, his typecasting will end and the audiences will be treated to more such stunning performances. With minimal dialogues, Rana’s eyes do all the talking and its heart rending.
To cut a long story short, Pagglait is a film that gets it right — death, grief, anger, familial relations, moral dilemmas & forgiveness. And also it’s treatment and cast. One of the last scenes of the film is perhaps it’s most beautiful – 13 days have passed since Astik’s death and it is time for his mukti as per Hindu customs. However it is also the moment when Astik is born in Sandhya’s memories as a man she finally knows & hence can finally mourn and she can have her own mukti from all that shackled her. Kudos to debut director Umesh Bist & producers Sikhya Entertainment & Balaji Motion Pictures.
Director – Umesh Bist
Cast – Sanya Malhotra, Ashutosh Rana, Sheeba Chaddha, Sayani Gupta, Raghubir Yadav
Available on Netflix.
