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The Bioscope Man
The racy saga of the fall of Chatterjee’s family, the sub-plot of the novel — sustains the reader’s interest; arid, sluggish main plot about bioscope business notwithstanding. By a strange twist of fate, both Abani Chatterjee, the bioscope celebrity, and his father, Tarini Chaterjee, the chief scheduler of East Indian Railway, fall from grace for a common folly. Their mistimed, uncanny encounter with Adela Heaslop, nee Quested, cause them dismay and public humiliation. As a matter of fact, intertexuality takes place consciously in this novel as the writer rewrites the character of Adela Quested from A Passage to India. However, the fall proves catastrophic for both of the Chatterjees, reducing the father to a "tiresome, falky drunkard" and the son, a Pariah in the bioscope business; his acting prowess notwithstanding. Shombu mama, Abani’s mentor, is hoodwinked by fake nationalists. Shabitri Chatterjee, Abani’s mother falls in the bathroom and pretends complete immobility to put up with her fall-stricken, inebriated husband. She leads a peaceful married life with her capacity for side stepping vexing problems and trying situations. Her characterisation is, ironically, an illustration of the efficacy of pretence in making life easy. The Bioscope Man, an acting manual, deals with the themes of fate, deception and pretence. Turning the searchlight on the local peculiarities and the tragic fate of Calcutta in the early 20th century, the novel is also of historic interest. East-West encounter, colonialism, the freedom fervour, nationalism and orientalism are the other terrains over which the novel travels. The virile, vigorous prose — overflowing with smiles parallels, contrasts, brilliant humour and pathos — spices up the novel. Indrajit Hazra’s masterly use of situational and verbal irony, particularly in the first and ultimate sections of the novel, creates high doses of laughter. The novel, by and large, is an entertaining tragi-comedy, where dark realities are portrayed in an amusing manner. It reminds us through irony the magic of acting; "if one pretends well enough, chances are that everything will be all right".
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The
desultory, discursive narrative of the birth, infancy and evolution of
bioscope, set in the colonial Calcutta of early 20th century,
is held together by piquant, titillating tale of ‘ the bioscope man’,
Abani Chatterjee’s sudden rise in film world, his secret, one-sided
passion for his co actor Felicia Miller and his subsequent downfall.