Indubala Bhaater Hotel: The smell of soil and a journey

What is the actual definition of one’s own place? Is it a country? Is it a village? Or is it just a building in which one resides? 

Actually, the answer is simple yet, complex. Yes, the people around make one’s place his or her own. 

Indubala Mallick. The Indubala Mallick, who runs a hotel, Indubala Bhaater Hotel, is the simplest name a hotel can have. And, as a match, like the name of the hotel, the owner is also one simple aged lady, wearing a white saree, always ready to cook for whoever wants to enjoy a non-conventional simple meal. 

But her simpler eyes have seen many complex scenes, as much as she has been through in her life. Indubala’s journey starts in a small village in East Pakistan, small enough to be in love with a Muslim boy, despite being a Hindu girl. That was the time after partition when communalism was at its highest peak. 

The wheel of fortune kept rolling; Indubala had to leave Monirul, marry a drunkard from Kolkata, and lead the life she did not think of even in her dreams -- just the life of another discriminated housewife. She had none in her family that she could think of as her own. So, it was never her own place. 

It's not like she did not have friends. She had a bunch of them. There was Lachmi, the fish supplier of that locality, who was technically the first customer of the hotel. Dhnanjay, aka Dhana was also there, being that silent shadow of Indubala, who just stays there, whatever happens. 

Even a Naxalist was her friend, Alok, the only one in her life to call ‘Comrade Indubala’. There were many well-wishers, actually fans, to be more specific. Indubala continued her journey with all of them. 

While watching the series, the audiences will feel that smell of the soil in every part of it, let it be the presentation of Indubala’s childhood, or let it be that iconic ‘Pakhider Smriti’ song by Iman Chakrabarty, or most importantly, the unique food items. 

‘Kochu-baata’, ‘Aam-tel’ (Mango-flavoured oil), ‘Chingri Macher Gada Holud Jhol’ (Shrimp curry with mustard), ‘Tel-Koi’, Kumro Phuler Bora, ‘Maalpowa’ (Sort of a rice-cake) and all those foods that are enough to make saliva dripping from any Bengali tongue from anywhere in the world. Those foods represent the roots of Bengali culture, the soil from which this whole ethnicity evolved, the soil that fed and filled every single stomach, adding the word ‘Bhojon-Bilashi’ to the Bengali dictionary. 

Interestingly, the names of the food items were actually the name of the chapters of the book of the same name, which was adapted for the series. And each food item was somehow connected to Indubala’s journey towards the path of life, the journey that has changed her from a small girl from ‘Haaripota’ to a responsible, steady and strong woman. 

Coming to the other parts of the series, Shubhasree Ganguly as Indubala may have played one of the most influential characters throughout her career. As an older Indubala, she was good, but as the young Indubala, she was extraordinary. The teen Indubala’s performance was also praiseworthy. 

The songs were soothing as well as perfectly placed. Especially, along with ‘Pakhider Gaan’, the song in the voice of Anirban Bhattacharya, and those lines saying ‘Ami Du Haat Tule Haati’ were pure goosebumps. 

Director Debaloy Bhattacharya took the essence of the sourcebook but decorated the story completely in his magical way. He could capture that smell of soil in his frames, that soil which structured Indubala’s journey.  

The series is now streaming on Hoichoi, being one of their best and most fresh content. 

shuvodipbiswasturja1999@gmail.com