A personal avant-garde for theatre, Soumyajit Majumdar’s directorial debut, #homecomingAttempts to invoke an emotional response to the decline of the art form in popular culture.
The members of a youth theater group, ‘Amra’, reunited seven years after graduating from college, at a house party held at their old rehearsal location. The realization that the place will soon be turned into a heritage hotel becomes the focal point of all conversation as the characters reflect on the time spent there.
As friends arrive at the party, we learn where these characters ended up after the theater group disbanded. Some like Shree (Sayani Gupta) took a similar path into film acting, while others like Abhishek aka ‘Gadot’ turned to corporate life. Majumdar has designed this party as a venue for these (now grown) characters so that the theater group can think of an alternate direction.
A good reunion film is based on a fundamental sense of the strong ties that the characters shared. In his absence, he has to rely on the chemistry between the actors. Although, #homecoming Both are lacking.
Majumdar tries to piece together several short films, as we see different conversations between different friend groups at the party run in parallel, but he struggles to piece these together.
Theater is supposed to be the connecting edge of these individuals, but since we get only glimpses of his time as ‘Amra’, it becomes difficult to take care of the spoiled friendships, broken relationships and failed careers. The youth theater group is only ever shown in quick short flashbacks, almost always without dialogue.
Sadly, like fleeting flashbacks, the interactions between these re-connected friends take place on a superficial level. The film hardly touches the premise of how these friendships came to be, or what made them so bad now.
Communication that is supposed to provide context for the characters’ emotions barely registers an impact, as we get either exposure dumps or overly high-brow one liners.
#homecoming
Director: Soumyajit Majumdar
Cast: Sayani Gupta, Hussain Dalal, Soham Majumdar, Tushar Pandey, Tuhina Das and others
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Story: A group of friends are reunited seven years later in their old theater rehearsal space, a reminder of the impact theater has had on their lives.
As the party progresses, we learn that Shubho (Tushar Pandey) is missing from the party ignoring attempts by his friends to contact him. Later when he finally arrives at the party, we get a two-minute-long scene of him going on a passionate speech about the downfall of “good theatre.”
Shubho, the theater purist who ventured into acting but now finds himself lost and cynical, could have been used as a window for audiences to express the struggles of a dying art form.
Instead, Shubho spends his time talking about the acquisition of Artificial Intelligence, which will kill creativity. He then turns his attention to the audience, the middle class, whom he chastises for “celebrating regressive gimmicks and mediocrity.” This exhortation, which upsets his on-screen friends, does not shake the audience as we still do not know the positive impact of theater in his life.
However, while the writing may leave a lot to be desired, the visuals come across as a saving grace. For a film that mostly takes place in one place, cinematographer Anoop Singh’s work doesn’t bore you as you walk around at this house party.
For a film that spends so much time expressing grief over the loss of friends because they were separated, and what the culture is losing as the theater loses steam, it really gives us what they have. Doesn’t show its value.
The film tries to achieve a lot but, like its characters, fails to fulfill its artistic ambitions.
#Homecoming is currently streaming on SonyLIV
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