Titli
Encyclopedia
Titli is a 2002 Bengali film by Rituporno Ghosh, starring Konkona Sen Sharma
, Aparna Sen
, Mithun Chakraborty
.
The film tells the story of a developing adolescent, played by Konkona
, and the sensitivity of a teenager, and also the portrayal of the mother-daughter relationship and quiet understanding within the pair. Titli also means butterfly
in Hindi
.
in north Bengal, covered in dense morning fog, sunshine playing hide-and-seek, Buddhist monasteries, the famous Darjeeling toy train
, interleaved with poetry and music, create the romantic ambiance underpinning this film.
Titli is a 17-year-old girl (Konkona Sen Sharma
), who has a teenage crush on a Bollywood
superstar Rohit Roy (Mithun Chakraborty
), who is more than twice her age. Though her bedroom is filled with his posters and memorabilia, Titli's mother Urmila (Aparna Sen
) is surprised to learn that she could even marry this much older man.
Titli and Urmila are going by jeep to receive Titli’s father (Dipankar De) from the airport. Along the scenic road from Kurseong
to Siliguri
, Urmila shares a nostalgic moment when she is reminded about her teenage crush on Rajesh Khanna
after hearing Titli play the song "Meri Sapnon Ki Raani Kab Aayegi Tu
". The jeep is to be shared, and as it happens, their co-passenger is none other than Rohit Roy himself, who has a flight to catch from Siliguri
. Titli's adolescent dreams are set on fire after she meets her crush face to face. Their conversation is interrupted by a halt necessitated by the coolant running out. Rohit also needs cigarette, and Titli wants to get them, and gets Rohit to agree. While she is gone, it is revealed that twenty years ago, Urmila and Rohit were lovers, when Rohit was an outsider looking for roles in the Tollygunge
film industry. Today, Urmila is married, but the lingering romance is built up by the hill greenery and they both reminisce longingly. Urmila recites lines from the well-known Shakti Chattopadhyay
poem Abani Bari Aachho? (Abani, are you home?)
One of the themes of the film is "the first day of the rains". Urmila wonders if it is the first day of AashaRh - the month heralding the monsoon
s in the Bengali calendar
, a month rendered romantic in Kalidasa
’s epic verse, Meghadutam. Rohit feels a droplet of rain on his watch. The foggy romantic mood heightens as Urmila sings a Rabindrasangeet and recites a Tagore
poem. By now, unbeknownst to the old lovers, Titli has returned, and she overhears the conversation, and learns of their relationship. Her own romance is shattered, and John Lennon’s "Strawberry fields forever" builds up the mood of desolation. Titli is on the verge of tears as she grapples with the fact that her own mother has become her immediate rival. She has always been very close to her mother, and the tension mounts as she does not know how to deal with this pain. Eventually, Titli cannot suppress her curiosity if her mother still loves Rohit. In the end, when Rohit writes a letter to Urmila about his engagement to another woman, she gets her answer.
The film is very stylishly made, even this end story coinciding with the announcement on a magazine cover - "Bangali Babur Biye" (Bengali gentleman gets married). It ends with the tables turned, it is now Titli who is consoling Urmila.
Konkona Sen Sharma
Konkona Sen Sharma is an Indian actress. She is the daughter of actress and filmmaker Aparna Sen. Sharma appears primarily in Indian arthouse and independent films, and her achievements in the genre have established her as one of the leading actresses of contemporary parallel cinema.Making her...
, Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Bengali Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards.-Biography:...
, Mithun Chakraborty
Mithun Chakraborty
Mithun Chakraborty is an Indian film actor, social activist, and entrepreneur, who has won three National Film Awards. He made his acting debut with the arthouse drama Mrigaya , for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Actor....
.
The film tells the story of a developing adolescent, played by Konkona
Konkona Sen Sharma
Konkona Sen Sharma is an Indian actress. She is the daughter of actress and filmmaker Aparna Sen. Sharma appears primarily in Indian arthouse and independent films, and her achievements in the genre have established her as one of the leading actresses of contemporary parallel cinema.Making her...
, and the sensitivity of a teenager, and also the portrayal of the mother-daughter relationship and quiet understanding within the pair. Titli also means butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
in Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
.
Plot
The story develops around the evolution of Titli from a girl into womanhood, through the breaking of this crush. The dense jungles of DuarsDuars
The Dooars or Duars are the floodplains and foothills of the eastern Himalayas in North-East India around Bhutan. Duar means door in Assamese, Nepali, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Magahi and Bengali languages, and the region forms the gateway to Bhutan from India. There were 18 passages or gateways through...
in north Bengal, covered in dense morning fog, sunshine playing hide-and-seek, Buddhist monasteries, the famous Darjeeling toy train
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, nicknamed the "Toy Train", is a narrow gauge railway from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling in West Bengal, run by the Indian Railways....
, interleaved with poetry and music, create the romantic ambiance underpinning this film.
Titli is a 17-year-old girl (Konkona Sen Sharma
Konkona Sen Sharma
Konkona Sen Sharma is an Indian actress. She is the daughter of actress and filmmaker Aparna Sen. Sharma appears primarily in Indian arthouse and independent films, and her achievements in the genre have established her as one of the leading actresses of contemporary parallel cinema.Making her...
), who has a teenage crush on a Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
superstar Rohit Roy (Mithun Chakraborty
Mithun Chakraborty
Mithun Chakraborty is an Indian film actor, social activist, and entrepreneur, who has won three National Film Awards. He made his acting debut with the arthouse drama Mrigaya , for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Actor....
), who is more than twice her age. Though her bedroom is filled with his posters and memorabilia, Titli's mother Urmila (Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Bengali Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards.-Biography:...
) is surprised to learn that she could even marry this much older man.
Titli and Urmila are going by jeep to receive Titli’s father (Dipankar De) from the airport. Along the scenic road from Kurseong
Kurseong
Kurseong is a hill station situated in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India.Located at an altitude of 1458 metres , Kurseong is just 30 km from Darjeeling...
to Siliguri
Siliguri
Siliguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in the Siliguri Corridor or Chicken's Neck - a very narrow strip of land linking mainland India to its north-eastern states. It is also the transit point for air, road and rail traffic to the neighbouring countries of Nepal,...
, Urmila shares a nostalgic moment when she is reminded about her teenage crush on Rajesh Khanna
Rajesh Khanna
Rajesh Khanna is an Indian actor of from Hindi films, and has been Hindi film producer and an Indian politician....
after hearing Titli play the song "Meri Sapnon Ki Raani Kab Aayegi Tu
Mere sapno ki rani
"Mere sapno ki rani" is a popular Hindi song from the 1969 Bollywood movie Aradhana. The song was composed by Sachin Dev Burman and performed by Kishore Kumar. In the film, Rajesh Khanna, the male protagonist sings the song atop an open jeep virtually chasing the heroine Sharmila Tagore who was...
". The jeep is to be shared, and as it happens, their co-passenger is none other than Rohit Roy himself, who has a flight to catch from Siliguri
Siliguri
Siliguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in the Siliguri Corridor or Chicken's Neck - a very narrow strip of land linking mainland India to its north-eastern states. It is also the transit point for air, road and rail traffic to the neighbouring countries of Nepal,...
. Titli's adolescent dreams are set on fire after she meets her crush face to face. Their conversation is interrupted by a halt necessitated by the coolant running out. Rohit also needs cigarette, and Titli wants to get them, and gets Rohit to agree. While she is gone, it is revealed that twenty years ago, Urmila and Rohit were lovers, when Rohit was an outsider looking for roles in the Tollygunge
Tollygunge
Tollygunge is a locality of South Kolkata. It is flanked by the Eastern Railway south suburban line to the north, Lake Gardens and Golf Green in the east, the Pashchim & Purba Putiaries in the south, and Behala in the west.-History:...
film industry. Today, Urmila is married, but the lingering romance is built up by the hill greenery and they both reminisce longingly. Urmila recites lines from the well-known Shakti Chattopadhyay
Shakti Chattopadhyay
Shakti Chattopadhay was a Bengali poet and writer, widely regarded as one of the greatest poet of 20th century Bengali literature. -External links:...
poem Abani Bari Aachho? (Abani, are you home?)
One of the themes of the film is "the first day of the rains". Urmila wonders if it is the first day of AashaRh - the month heralding the monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
s in the Bengali calendar
Bengali calendar
The Bengali calendar or Bangla calendar is a solar and sidereal Hindu calendar used by the Bengali people. It is used in the eastern Indian states of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura and in Bangladesh...
, a month rendered romantic in Kalidasa
Kalidasa
Kālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...
’s epic verse, Meghadutam. Rohit feels a droplet of rain on his watch. The foggy romantic mood heightens as Urmila sings a Rabindrasangeet and recites a Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
poem. By now, unbeknownst to the old lovers, Titli has returned, and she overhears the conversation, and learns of their relationship. Her own romance is shattered, and John Lennon’s "Strawberry fields forever" builds up the mood of desolation. Titli is on the verge of tears as she grapples with the fact that her own mother has become her immediate rival. She has always been very close to her mother, and the tension mounts as she does not know how to deal with this pain. Eventually, Titli cannot suppress her curiosity if her mother still loves Rohit. In the end, when Rohit writes a letter to Urmila about his engagement to another woman, she gets her answer.
The film is very stylishly made, even this end story coinciding with the announcement on a magazine cover - "Bangali Babur Biye" (Bengali gentleman gets married). It ends with the tables turned, it is now Titli who is consoling Urmila.
Cast
- Mithun ChakrabortyMithun ChakrabortyMithun Chakraborty is an Indian film actor, social activist, and entrepreneur, who has won three National Film Awards. He made his acting debut with the arthouse drama Mrigaya , for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Actor....
as Rohit Roy - Aparna SenAparna SenAparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Bengali Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards.-Biography:...
as Urmila Chatterjee - Konkona Sen SharmaKonkona Sen SharmaKonkona Sen Sharma is an Indian actress. She is the daughter of actress and filmmaker Aparna Sen. Sharma appears primarily in Indian arthouse and independent films, and her achievements in the genre have established her as one of the leading actresses of contemporary parallel cinema.Making her...
as Titli(Tilottoma Chatterjee) - Dipankar Dey as Urmila's husband