| Herbert | |
| Director: | Suman Mukhopadhyay |
| Starring: | Subhasish Mukhopadhyay Lily Chakravarty Sabyasachi Chakraborty Biswanath Basu Kabir Suman |
| Editing: | Arghyakamal Mitra |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Bengali |
Herbert is a 2005 Indian Bengali-language drama film directed by veteran theater director Suman Mukhopadhyay. It was based on Nabarun Bhattacharya's 1997 Sahitya Akademi Award winning novel of the same name.[1] [2]
The story starts with one Herbert Sarkar cursing a group of people who just left his house. Herbert Sarkar is a forty-year-old crank, a self-proclaimed mystic who can speak with the dead and that is how he earns his living. Later that day after a heavy drinking spree with his friends, Herbert slits his wrist and commits suicide. The very next day he becomes the center of Police investigation as a posthumous bomber. Through a non-linear story telling and Nabarun's typical magic reality, the quixotic life story of Herbert is revealed.
Herbert Sarkar was the son of a wealthy Bengali film director. His family included his simpleton mother, film director father, and the family of his uncle, aunt and their two sons, Dhanna and Krishna. His father dies shortly after one of Herbert's birthday during a shooting with his mistress, Miss Lily. Tragedy strikes again, and his mother also dies due to accidental electrocution.
With all his property being enjoyed by his uncle's family, Herbert becomes the errand boy of the family who is ridiculed by everyone and is the butt of jokes of the neighbors due to his eccentric and unusual behavior. While his cousin Dhanna uses him to write the cheats for him to pass the exam, his elder cousin Krishna loves Herbert and his son Binu too, who is fond of "Haru Uncle". Krishna slowly introduced Herbert and Binu both, to the world of communism and ideology of Lenin, Mao, Stalin, Ho Chi Minh etc. and takes them to the screening of movies based on revolution stories. But soon, they leave as Krishna gets a job in a college as professor and leaves with his family. While leaving he hands him a copy of "Ten days that shook the world" and tells him he has left his books in one of the house's rooms, for him to read.
A few days later, a new family moved in the neighborhood. Herbert soon befriends the Banalata (Buki) and eventually they develop feelings for each other. But true to his tragic luck, Buki also moves out as her father again receives a job transfer. During this time he finds a trunk full of occult books and a human skull in the house, which belonged to one of his ancestors. Herbert starts reading all the books and soon take interest in the subject. The film moves a few years in future and Binu comes back to Kolkata with his father to get admitted in Presidency College during the 70's. While studying, Binu becomes a part of the Naxalite movement against the then Congress Government in West Bengal. Binu spends a good amount of time hiding from the police force while the police kill the rebels mercilessly. One such night, Binu visits Herbert with one of his friends. When Binu is about to leave, Herbert urges him to stay the night since it was the latter's birthday. But citing an urgent work at hand, Binu leaves and is shot at night by a police informer.
On his deathbed, Binu tells Herbert of his diary and where he has hidden it, behind the photo of goddess Kali in the prayer room. After a dream including Binu, Herbert claims that Binu has revealed the location of the diary to him in his dream and that, he, Herbert is able to communicate with the dead people. Herbert becomes a local sensation. He sets up a roaring business called "Dialogues with the Dead" for three years and for the first time in his life, earns money and the respect of others. However, his luck runs out when the International Rationalist Society declares him a fraud and threatens to turn him over to the law unless he closes shop. They soon visit Herbert, revealing that to be the very first scene from the movie. Unable to find any clues or motives behind the blast, Police Department declares this a fool's act by reading lines from the suicide note of Herbert.
At the end, it was revealed that Binu, during his last visit with Herbert, hid a few hand grenades, smuggled from Albania, inside Herbert's sleeping mattress and though he planned to return and take those out, he was shot on that very night. After Herbert died, to get rid of everything related to him, Dhanna sends the mattress along with the dead body for cremation. Once inside the cremation chamber, the grenades catch fire and explode, killing many people, an incident that turned him into a posthumous bomber.[3]
This film received excellent reviews from both national and international critics for its script and directing style.
In spite of bagging utmost praise from a number of film critics, 'Herbert' faced a strong censorship in terms of its screening in Nandan, the government-sponsored film and cultural centre in Kolkata. After Nandan withheld its screening in 2005, a signature campaign was organized for 'Herbert', as a protest against the censorship order."[7] Suman Mukhopadhay, the director of 'Herbert' said "Nandan’s preview committee had objected to the film, saying it will send out wrong signals to audiences. But they didn’t explain their position in writing."[7] After a barrage of protests, it was eventually screened and ran for three weeks. The film has since gone on to achieve cult status, as much for its aesthetic merits.
This film won the following awards: