Mainak Bhaumik's "Take One" delves deep into the life of Doyel Mitra. She is an actress by profession who is criticized when one of her sex scenes in an international film gets leaked on the internet. Her mother- in-law decides to send her daughter Tushi to her son's place in Delhi. Later when she receives an international award, the people who had once criticized her shower her with words of praises and this is just what the film is all about.
Mainak Bhaumik's novel thoughts deserve praise as he has made an honest effort at projecting the hypocrisy of the society. However, as a film critic I have a lot of issues with the film. Firstly the film hardly builds up the crisis in the life of Doyel, the portrayal of which I had expected would be the biggest highlight of the film. Even after the so- called crisis in the life of Doyel after the scene leaks, nothing much really seems to happen apart from a few questions from journalists or a few people bad mouthing her; but isn't that quite ordinary a situation that she is shown dealing with? This strikes as something very unnatural, especially when one goes by the frame of reference of Bollywood movies like Woh Lamhe and The Dirty Picture which deal with quite similar issues. There is a particular scene in which Doyel is seen lashing at her co-actor at a party for leaving her and falling in the bed of another younger actress, a scene that is sure to remind one of Vidya Balan's The Dirty Picture in which she similarly lashes out at Naseeruddin Shah. Behaving like a damsel who had been exploited does not suit the picture of Doyel Mitra as she was sleeping with the guy out of her own choice and had not tried to mend her ways even when her daughter points out that the guy is not at all reliable. So if it was all by choice then why create such a hullabaloo at the end of the day? She could have instead moved on as that is the best revenge.
Secondly, Doyel's entire focus seems to be on wasting herself away and not spending quality time with her daughter which again erases all traces of sympathy that the audience may have developed for the so called crisis ridden Doyel. Also, the fact that Doyel does not try hard enough to prevent her mother-in-law from sending her daughter away to Delhi evokes a new sense of disgust for Doyel in the minds of the audience as this act of hers projects her as all the more self-centered and irresponsible which I believe is in absolute contrast to the theme of the unjust crucification of women that had been so poignantly promoted as the primary concept of the movie.
Thirdly, actor Rahul's on screen wife played by Shreyoshi could have been simply avoided. She does not have much to do in the film. Too much of steamy scenes take away the basic essence of the film. Was the director trying to titillate the audience with such scenes? Though we know that sex and SRK sells in Bollywood, it may not really work here post the first day show. The director who indeed had a novel idea should have tried to work harder on the script rather than on focusing on the steamy scenes.
Acting in the film is reasonably good. Swastika as Doyel enacts her part well. She looks good as Sita and her chemistry with her daughter is great. The duo's chemistry shines through and is the saving grace in the film. However as the actress in crisis, Swastika fails to be convincing and we even see the real Swastika Mukherjee peeping in the character of Doyel more often than once. Smoking and drinking alone does not show the crisis in one's life but that seems to be the only route to show the distress of all those distressed in the movie. Rahul as the journalist does not have much to do. His divorce with his wife leaves him broken and he is always in a drunken stupor, a state that I have never seen journalists in. Anwesha acts the part of Doyel Mitra's daughter convincingly.The music by Mayukh Bhaumik is also good and pleasing for the ears. At least the music director passes the acid test with good marks."Take One" is, despite all the tall claims, the film falls flat. It falls short of the expectations that it had raised. A good concept and the acting prowess of a good actress have been miserably wasted.
