Masoom

Teenagers, Sourav (Akash) and Twinkle (Rittika), meet during Durga Puja festivities. But what could have been a beginning of an intimate relationship goes wary after they lose control in an alcoholic stupor and spend the night together. Next morning, the duo decides to forget the episode and continue to be friends. But all hell breaks loose when Twinkle becomes pregnant. The flustered kids confess everything to their parents and seek help. Call it societal pressure, their parents simply refuse to understand Akash and Twinkle’s predicament. They leave the two in the hands of fate.
In Masoom, director Partha Sarathi Joarder deals with a very sensitive topic of teenage pregnancy and how our society, with all its moral hang-ups, fails to get to the root of the problem. While such a topic is a novelty, especially in Bengali films, the director fails to maintain the gravity of the subject by inserting unnecessary song and dance sequences. And the amount of time he wastes on them deters him from profiling the protagonists in a well-rounded manner. For that reason, you fail to relate to Sourav and Twinkle as a couple. There woes fail to affect you until climax.

Performance-wise the lead pair — both being debutants — are awkward at times. However, they have tried hard to get into the skin of their characters. And the effort shows. Supporting actors have also done their job well. A special mention should be made for actor Nemai Ghosh. His role of a village quack is bone-chillingly real. The director, in a bid to generate laughter, has also created a stereotypical gay character called Ramakanta. While he must have thought his act will be a laugh riot, in reality, that character annoys you, so much so that you feel like leaving the theatre.

If only the subject had been dealt with in a more matured manner, sans the tacky trimmings, then Masoom would have definitely turned out to be a hatke film. But, alas! The film leaves enough scope for improvement and one can skip it without feeling guilty