Everyone I talked to at the screening of Kalat Nakalat confessed that they had seen “bits of it on TV but never whole.” The actual storyline of this film is not that different from the various soaps on TV, though the film is of much higher quality. Seeing it on the big screen however, you feel much more connected to the family and their well-being.
Manohar and Uma (Vikram Gokhale and Savita Prabhune, both excellent) are a perfect couple, the kind where the kids are named Bhachu and Chakuli. Their happy paradise comes under threat however after the arrival of damsel-in-distress Manisha (Ashwini Bhave, who’s job here is to mostly make innocent faces and rail about the treatment of single women by society), recently widowed. Ashok Saraf also stars as Uma’s brother Chotu who is a chirote salesman, a laugh and a half in itself if you are from a Marathi household.
For a Marathi commercial film from 1989 , it is somewhat progressive. I was also pleasantly surprised that there aren’t too many scenes put just to wring tears out of you (Although there is one). The film chugs along nicely, and when the mood gets too tense, Shroff is on hand to provide comic relief. Melodrama doesn’t always have to be a bad word, and this film proves it.
There are some films where you watch the film, contemplate upon them and then declare them a masterpiece, while for some films you know instantly. Bal (Honey in English) is the latter type of film. I can still recall myself sitting rapturously, the rest of the audience as if evaporating, as I leaned forward in my seat to take in every frame of the gorgeousness in front of me. Bal would be worthy because of it’s cinematography alone but thankfully director Semih Kaplanoğlu has fashioned a film deserving to sit with the greats and made me question my assumption of Once Upon a Time in Anatolia being the best Turkish movie of the decade.
Bal follows Yusuf (Bora Altaş, with his enigmatic face that you can’t look away from) a boy who has trouble speaking without stuttering unless he is whispering to his father. Yusuf and his mother (Tülin Özen) have reason to worry however, as his father (Erdal Beşikçioğlu) doesn’t return in time from a trip taken to have more chances of gathering honey. We see Yusuf as being closer to his father at the start and cold towards his mother, but as his father remains absent the mother and son grow closer. Equal parts sweet and tragic, Bal is an ethereal poem, taking us along on the beautiful journey of Yusuf’s childhood. Every shot could be dissected and pondered upon. My absolute favorite however, has to be the one concerning the shadow of the moon in bucket full of water, that reminded me of a tale in the Ramayan. I can’t wait to watch this film again, to take in all it’s lush imagery, the expertly filmed classroom scenes and to spend time in the company of Yusuf again.
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