Not everything is so simple under the dark vaults of palaces. . . The film takes us to the inner chambers of the Zamindar palace, filled with dark and bizarre secrets. Most of the story takes place in the house. Through colorful images and words, the full gravity of what is happening is shown. The subtle depiction of events (especially rituals) is truly disturbing. The film has its bright moments, which are conveyed through dark humor. The women here are just interior items, at the same time forced to come to the master's bedroom at the first call, in order to fulfill the main function of the ruler's wife - to produce an heir. And it's not just wives who are involved in this mission. The ruler needs an heir at all costs and is ready to do whatever the priests advise him to do.
The film is Bengali, and I haven’t seen much of it, which is probably why it’s still subtitled. I started watching this film because of Abhishek Bachchan (from his filmography). He’s young, handsome, hot and amazing (I didn’t even know he was in Bengali movies). His character, a young, poor and very talented sculptor Bridge Bhushan, came to the royal palace to make sculptures for the holiday. He is working hard on the creation of these sculptures and it would seem that everything should turn out clean and smoothly, but then he meets the second wife of the ruler, a young, sweet and modest Yashomati, who fell in his heart.
By the way, this actress, who played Yashomati (I saw her for the first time, she says she is the sister of Saif Ali Khan). It seems that this is so, judging by her eye section, I liked her, very subtly, tenderly and piercingly performed her role. I was once again struck by the injustice of women. This girl is completely disenfranchised and completely subordinate to her tyrant husband, who treats her no better than a cat. Its main mission in the palace is to give birth to an heir to the ruler.
However, as with the first wife Mahamaya, the role of which was played by Rupali Ganguli. I don't know her either, but she perfectly embodied the image of the ruler's first and, in fact, chief wife. On the one hand, she hates her husband’s younger wife as a potential rival, and on the other hand feels sorry for her, because the girl is still quite young, naive, pure and blameless. And she went to a real hell on earth, to this terrible place where all sorts of atrocities are committed against everyone living in this palace. In the end, the heroine Rupali even caused me to some extent respect for her, although it would seem unworthy of him.
Impressed and Jackie Shroff performing the role of a tyrant ruler, a tyrant and an absolutely evil and narcissistic person. You begin to hate him from the very first seconds of appearing on the screen. A gorgeous role, he was amazingly organic in it, as if he did not play, but lived it. I’ve seen Jackie in negative roles before, but this is the best negative role in his filmography, although it doesn’t seem like it at first glance. Just brilliant performance.
"Palace" is really a very disturbing film, and it requires the viewer to be in a certain state of mind, but it is still worth watching. This story greatly changed my view of Bengali cinema, but the end of the film left me anxious and depressed, but happy if possible!
The film is very good. It has a good story, which is supported by a good, clear script. The cinematography is good, and the characters were well played by the actors. The whole movie is shot indoors, most of it in the bedroom, but it captures your attention and doesn’t let go until the end. The pace is fast, especially for a Bengali movie. Timekeeping is not long, less than 2 hours, although there is nothing to be surprised. Still not Hindi cinema, there are no songs and dances, although at the end it sounds very beautiful song.
I appreciate this film from an artistic point of view. From a female point of view, it depicts the problems and feelings of a woman and the needs of a child in the old days. You can immediately see all the ambiguous feelings in the pursuit of the title of Rai Bahadur, which was very important in the time of Queen Victoria. It is also very well shown how women suffered from oppression by the so-called "masters" - husbands and priests. A living portrait of nineteenth century Bengal. The role of Abhishek Bachchan is candid, he leaves a certain message and ends the film.
A good, even very good movie. Rituparno Ghosh, takes only serious and heavy pictures. There are many interesting moments and events in the film. For the most part, I really liked it and watched it with interest. Although the complete darkness of all the heroes of the film. Both wives feel sorry. The husband loves only himself, only uses them for his own needs. The older wife is more cynical, the younger is afraid of her desires.
Interesting, though not new, the story comes from 3 person. A beautiful film about the life of that time. Everyone played well, Abhishek has a very good role, a bright image. It's tragic. In general, drama is in the mood.
10 out of 10