The Diary of West Bengal Review: Cringeworthy and controversial

THE DIARY OF WEST BENGAL

Producer- Jeetendra Singh

Director- Sanoj Mishra

Cast- Arshin Mehta, Yajur Marwah and Deepak Kamboj

Platform of Release- Theatres

Rating:

By Jyothi Venkatesh

The Diary of West Bengal (A) is centred around the influx of Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshi extremists in West Bengal and how their settlement is being facilitated by the state government. The film revolves around Suhasini (Arshin Mehta) who runs away from Bangladesh after her father, who is a temple priest, is murdered by Muslims.

The harrowing tale is told from the lens of Suhasini Bhattacharya, a Hindu woman from Bangladesh who crosses border to West Bengal after her parents are murdered in a genocide. She is aided by Islamic radicals and is later forced to convert to Islam to attain political votes. In the midst, she becomes a victim of Love Jihad when Prateek disguises himself as Atik who too has a motive to convert her.

Suhasini lands in the Sundarban jungles of West Bengal in a group with others like her. However, she runs away from there, too, when she sees Kazi Khan converting the refugees to Islam.  Suhasini meets Prateek (Yajur Marwah) in the jungle. He takes her to his village after some days. Soon, Prateek marries Suhasini. However, Suhasini doesn’t know that Prateek is actually a Muslim whose real name is Ateek. She also doesn’t know that Ateek is the brother of Mahmood (Deepak Kamboj), an MP from West Bengal, whose main mission seems to be conversion of Hindus to Islam.

Also read: Gyaarah Gyaarah actress Kritika Kamra on nepotism debate: “It’s the audience that decides your fate”

Sadly, the controversial story Sanoj Mishra has written a propagandist story which tries to cash in on the topic of Rohingya Muslims in Calcutta. The plot is very muddled and has several loopholes. As far as the performances of the cast is concerned, all that I can say is that the film is weighed down by weak performances, with none of the characters making an impact.

Arshin Mehta as Suhasini shows signs of effort, and is endearing and lives her part. On the other hand, Yajur Marwah, in his portrayal of Atik/Prateek, struggles with emotion, which detracts from the film’s overall effect. Sunoj Mishra directorial attempts to tell a brave story falls flat though he has done detailed research which is palpable, the whole narrative is supported by apt camerawork, and intense background score.

On the whole, to put it in a nutshell, besides the cringe worthy dialogue in the film, which only adds to the discomfort, editing leaves a lot to be desired.