Sonata Aparna Sen's New Movie Tries To Explore Thin Layers of Femminism

Yesterday I saw preview of  'Sonata', a film directed by veteran actor and filmmaker Aparna Sen.It is slated to release on 21st April.

Aparna has made path-breaking films like 36 Chowringhee Lane and Mr. and Mrs. Iyer in the past. So as a critic, I expected something  different , something thought provoking in the film. Yes, it is different in many ways, 

The entire film is shot in the drawing room of a flat in a high-rise building in the city of Bombay. For 115 minutes camera pans  only in the 10x10 meter space. 

 The Film does not intends  a psychological exploration of the unmarried women characters,  There are three central characters - Arunima Chaturvedi,  professor, Dolan Sen, banker and Subhadra Parekh, journalist, they are facing mid-life crises.  Overall treatment of movie  is  good, it is liberating, fun-filled philosophical, poetic and also try to peel inner layers of feminism one after the other.

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Shabana Azmi played character of professional banker Dolan Sen,  Dolan believes  in quality life, loves perfumes, wine and smoking and does not care about high moral ground in the life. Lilette Dubey plays character of Subhadra, who takes stand  in her career to an extent that she  is ready to fuck up e her job, loves wine and smoking, her life is bohemian, she love scent pf male body rather than the perfume, want to enjoy her sex life to the fullest, in the process occasionally chooses wrong person.  , Aparna Sen played role of a Sanskrit professor Arunima, who talks less, little introvert and all the time busy in doing research and  writing books, she does not like life style of her friends. But once she gulps wine she also starts opening up. 

.Film is about  a single evening – when these three friend getting together and reflecting on their lives, ideals and relationships.They claim, “What awful creatures we are - no commitment, no aim, no ideology, We are not even feminists.” Earlier, feminism was by definition freedom from a patriarchal society. Film shows that it has become wider in its spectrum. And then there is this maid whose daughter is pregnant, whose life is very different from these three affluent, upper middle class women for whom the maid works. When she is denied leave to visit her daughter, she snaps, saying, “What would you understand about a mother’s love for children?” 

There is also a transgender friend, who has undergone sexual reassignment surgery. It is a cameo that touches upon a different aspect of the feminine.

Aparna Sen’s husband Kalyan Ray, plays Professor Arunima's onscreen lover in Sonata.

The film is based on the play by the same name written by Mahesh Elkunchwar.  Aparna, Shabana and Lillete lived their character so well that look very real.

But their is only one problem , film has adopted in such a way that it looks like a play.