Baksho Bondi review: Tillotama Shome delivers an outstanding performance in wrenching drama

Directed by Tanushree Das and Saumyananda Sahi, Baksho Bondi had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in the Perspectives section.

Actor Tillotama Shome is always so good in everything she does that it will come to nobody's surprise that she delivers yet another powerful, heartbreaking performance in Baksho Bondi (titled Shadowbox in English), the debut feature made by Saumyananda Sahi and Tanushree Das, which the actor also co-produced. Here, she plays a working class woman named Maya pushed to the sidelines because of her tough circumstances, someone who is desperately trying to make ends meet for her family. Premiering at the Berlin Film Festival, this is a focused neorealist drama punctuated with moments of fleeting hope. (Also read: Tillotama Shome's 'Baksho Bondi' to compete in Perspective section of Berlinale 2025)

Tillotama Shome plays a housemaid named Maya in Baksho Bondi.

The premise

Baksho Bondi tightens its gaze on one lower middle-class family living in a Kolkata suburb named Barrackpore. So there are no fancy Kolkata delights like the Howrah Bridge in its introductory montage and, fortunately, no impromptu visits to roshogolla shops. This is a film that truly gets the specificity of the daily humdrum of a tiny rural town, where everyone knows/talks/sees the other because of the tight space within which they are bound. In the opening minutes, Saumyananda Sahi's camera follows Maya as she begins her day getting out of her small rented place on a cycle, delivering the ironed clothes to her customers. She reminds one of the women that the due has accumulated for the last 10 days, but her tone is gentle. Maya does not need to be reminded that she is poor.

Luckily, Baksho Bondi understands that there is nothing flattering about Maya's poverty and the much-overused epitome of ‘perseverance’ that is associated with it. Although Maya's circumstances are anything but easy, she is not valorized for her steely resilience. But, the impediments in her way keep on adding to this wrenching drama, which begins to create issues for the overall dramatic impact.

We come to know of her husband, Sundar (Chandan Bisht), who was once an army officer but now spends his days collecting frogs to distribute to local science colleges. Viewed as a nuisance and a lunatic, Sundar is probably dealing with PTSD, as the film gives enough hints about his past. Maya also has a teenage son named Debu (Sayan Karmakar), whose social life in school goes for a toss because of his father's drunken ruckus. Maya receives little help from her own brother, who is quite well-off with his photocopy shop business.

What can Maya do in these trying circumstances? What else, but suffer and endure through the drudgeries of her daily work and hope for a better future for her son? Baksho Bondi is invested in Maya's reserve and capacity to hold ground. Her patience is not some superhuman power but a consequence of her own socio-economic position in society. At times, Baksho Bondi seems to waver off from Maya's perspective, to link Sundar's negligence and untreated trauma. Then there's also Debu, who must come to terms with his family's humble situation and do his best.

These unfolding plot points tend to slow down the impact of Baksho Bondi, often eschewing the narrative with a shadowy sense of predictability. This is a film that is too measured in its depiction of rural livelihood, too unhurried in its own narrative rhythm. Even as Sundar's situation worsens, the film wanders around Maya from a close vicinity. This bites away the emotional punch in the final act. The film embodies Maya's resilience to the extent that it cannot see what lies ahead, and it is unable to break free of the narrative tightrope.

What works

The performances add much-needed energy and immediacy to the film. Chandan Bisht is very effective as the man who cannot make himself capable in the eyes of his son Debu, sensitively played by Sayan Karmakar. Then there's the central performance of Tillotama Shome, an actor who makes her whole presence fill the screen with a sense of bruised dignity. Maya must find some way or the other to make things better. The actor brings remarkable ferocity to her part, where Maya finds ways to get along with her day despite all the mounting inconveniences.

Baksho Bondi is a moving portrait of an India that still has so much development to offer, and that still has to confront the deeply rooted tendencies of class consciousness. There are so many women like Maya who are barely making ends meet after the struggles of their everyday lives. They carry on to see another day because there is no other avenue left for them to get out. By telling one such story, Baksho Bondi offers an empathetic look at their lives, standing beside their daily acts of resilience.