Miss Man Review : Moving, ambitious, and occasionally overstuffed tale of journeys.
Miss Man will be playing from 13th to 16th August at the Bengaluru International Short Film Festival in the Indian competition segment.
The opening montage of the film Miss Man, masterfully intercutting between childhood snippets and delicately tender and intimate moments shared between lovers, is done with such breathtaking agility that it is instantly immersive. Director Tathagata Ghosh turns his perceptive gaze on the constantly fraught mind and inner condition of the protagonist, Manob (Arghya Adhikary), who is caught up in a baffling imbroglio around his gender and sexual orientation. We see the lovely sparkle the instant he drapes the saree around his body , applies the lipstick, and stares at the mirror; these particular moments, aided with exquisite score, are constructed as the most honest, heartfelt space for articulation and expression of Manob’s deepest wishes. His lover spares no cudgels in telling him directly that Manob needs to undergo a sex reassignment surgery only then can their relationship gain the conservative nod of acceptance. Manob goes to the city to fend a livelihood that will enable his operation . He meets Jhilmil ( Payel Rakshit) ,who is a sex worker , initially through an act of empathy, and she offers him refuge , and a bond gradually develops between them.
The film adopts a quick cutaway structure, rapidly alternating between the real and the fantasised, yet these shifts somehow never come off as spurious and does not get repetitive perhaps because it’s done with such flair, which camouflages the reiterative aspect. Cinematographer Tuhin composes some startlingly evocative shots and frames, such as that of Manob and Jhilmil by the window, bathed in a warm blue glow, or those shots of Manob in the water. Adeep Singh and Anindit Ray’s sound design is meticulous and impeccable. Wedding shehnai, ululations, intermittent radio crackle and pervasive laughter interpolate the narrative and soundscape.
There’s a nice world-discovering quality that Arghya Adhikary locates, his performance perfectly encapsulates the overarching aspect of Manob on a constant, relentless search to establish his true identity , and sufficiently understand the contours of it. He precisely taps the naivete of Manob, that ready urge to learn and pick up new things and to be guided, and his glances at the woman on the train are filled with subtlest of longings.
Payel has an effortlessly charismatic presence . Jhilmil is pragmatic , she tempers Manob’s occasional idealisms about certain things being a woman , with her own bitter-but-never-whiny , inured and toughened understanding of the realities of womanhood.
She questions Manob when he interrupts her saying that a woman is not just defined by her body but her mind too. She agrees with that but also poses the grim thought that these things aren’t enough when it comes to matters of livelihood . Payel delivers these uncomfortable but vital truisms with an admirable unfussy manner . There’s not much back story but you know and believe her when she says these , that she has witnessed vicious , bleak and utterly dire circumstances.
Miss Man is an outstanding accomplishment for its editor MD Amir, who handles this structure of the film , the incessant see sawing between past, present and the imagined , with astonishing dexterity and consummate ease. It is fully in synchronicity with the notion of fluidity Ghosh explores so keenly.
Ghosh investigates and interrogates gender dysphoria with acuity. The roiling turmoil engendered by perplexing confusion and doubt around one’s gender and sexual orientation is delineated with remarkable abstinence from any kind of simplistic, easy resolution. Ghosh grapples with this and societal apathy, dismissive ignorance and ruthless mistreatment of the queer community , and how they are shoehorned and force fitted into hetero-normative codes of living .
Though, I often felt that Ghosh is overreaching his grasp, and sensed his directorial control infrequently becoming wayward and unfocused. This short is crowded with too many ideas and populated with too many questions , some of which inevitably go superficially examined. I also had a gripe with the English song inserted , which seemed terribly out of place and sticks out in this mostly authentically narrated story that otherwise is deeply rooted in the specifics spaces the characters traverse. The near-climactic confrontation scene lacks the punch and power that Ghosh might have aspired for, perhaps because of certain overboard acting by Manoj Michigan. I wish it were done in some other fashion.
Ultimately however these minor bumps don’t impede the impression the film creates and leaves in its wake. For a short, Miss Man displays boundless ambition and courage in its thematic handling, the complex probing of gender and sexual anxieties, awakenings and realisations , and all of these are steadily anchored in the most sincerely rendered emotional truth and an evolved sensitivity. Ghosh is immensely and sharply clued in to the many subtexts and aspects of the subject he has chosen to reflect on.
Miss Man heralds in Tathagata Ghosh an exciting new voice , who has a staggering command and a fine understanding of his craft . I suspect , with more ventures he embarks on, this occasional split between craft and subject will only diminish because Ghosh has a lot of receptiveness which is evident in broad strokes in Miss Man. Miss Man is distinctive in terms of treatment and execution , and Ghosh’s observations are beautifully mature.
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