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Ervell E. Menezes
finds Golan Rabbany Biplob’s Beyond the Circle deeply elevating YoU can take a man out of his lush, rustic setting but you can’t take the rusticity out of him. Well, that’s the underlying truth of Bangladeshi movie Beyond the Circle, as deeply moving and even elevating story by Golan Rabbany Biplob. Haripada is a well-known flautist living a quiet, peaceful existence in the countryside till a journalist wants to take him to Dacca to make him famous. Like Frank Capra’s heroes, Haripada is taken outside his environment — like Deeds Goes to Town and Mr Smith Goes to Washington. Can Haripada, who has adopted a Muslim boy, adapt himself to this strange new world? This simple musician, probably egged on by his adventurous adopted boy, is at first enamoured by the sea of change he witnesses — tall skyscrapers, slick escalators and a whole lot of gadgets he has never seen nor heard of before. Actually, a music company considers Haripada’s talent with the traditional flute a precious commodity. Deploying an army of publicists, managers, sponsors and marketers, they set about exploiting his rustic authenticity. The days run into weeks and more and Haripada is soon stifled by the urban paraphernalia he has to encounter. He is literally suffocated, takes ill and is bent on returning home. But what about the mega concert arranged for in his honour? Director Biplob unfolds a simple story plainly but effective but with growing tension. How the musician and his boy are subjected to this growing stress and strain is what the film is all about. In good time, the journalist/agent gets hostile. It is a psychological barrier Haripada has to encounter. He finds breathing difficult. He can no longer play the flute. A thing he loved and cherished all his life and he cannot get over this trauma. Haripada may be na`EFve but he isn’t stupid. Guess it is his street-smartness that comes into play. The journalist even tries to bring the Hindu-Muslim card into the picture in an attempt to blackmail the musician. Can Haripada find a way
out of this imbroglio? Biplob imbues the film with mellifluous tunes
drawn from age-old Bangladeshi folk traditions. From the outset, it is
the lush green setting of the countryside that is both soothing and
inspiring. In just 90 minutes, the story unfolds at a decent pace.
Jayanto Chattopadhyay is most convincing in the lead role and is ably
supported by Firoj Khan Dollar and Fazlor Rehman Babu. It is a
gripping story but it has layers of understanding.
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