Noshtoneer review: Sandipta Sen shines bright in an average show

3/5

Story: Aparna (Sandipta Sen) and her husband Rishav (Shoumo Banerjee) has an idyllic household with one daughter and a pretty house. Rishav is a well-revered professor of philosophy and Aparna runs a boutique. Their peace gets disrupted suddenly as one of Rishav’s former students, Godhuli Basak (Angana Roy), attempts suicide while pregnant after alleging Rishav of sexual misconduct. All hell breaks loose for Aparna as she tries to manage her family, stands by her husband, and essentially, gets on a journey to know the truth. 

Review: Ever since its inception, the #MeToo movement has generated a lot of conversation. It has undoubtedly given global gender politics a new dimension with thousands of victims gaining a voice to protest. The ripples of #MeToo have reached from the entertainment industry to corporate glass and chrome offices and educational campuses. On the other hand, there have been debates, discussions, and discourses over the futility and danger of the #Metoo movement, the perils of ‘calling out’ and ‘cancelling’ culture, and the toxicity of media/ social media and public trial. 

Noshtoneer is rather old wine trapped in a new bottle. It revolves around a ‘#MeToo’ allegation and how it affects the family of the alleged person. The conflict of a woman between justice and trust is nicely put in the series. At the outset, the story hints at inspiration from Kiara Advani’s 2020 drama, Guilty, with a very different presentation and setup.

The strength of the series is that it has brave and strong women. Some of the characters are seamlessly crafted. The characters of Soumyo (Anindya Chatterjee) and his partner Namrata (Rooqma Ray) – Aparna’s best friend – for example, are real and relatable. Similarly, Rishav’s brother Ritam (Rahul Dev Bose) and his wife’s characters are also convincing. These actors, along with Sandipta, are the treasures of the show. 

While Shoumo is less convincing, Angana is pretty decent as Godhuli Basak. In fact, her back story is convincingly developed. Lokenath Dey never fails to impress every time he plays a character. No matter how small his screen time is, he sparkles.   

On the other hand, the show proves that Rabindrasangeet is still a powerful tool to convey unspoken feelings and it is used nicely. The strains of Tagore’s tunes accentuate the sombre atmosphere on the screen.

The main problem of the series is it lacks nuances and fine lines. It is loud and presented as a glorified serial. The slo-mo shots of Aparna smelling the freshly brewed tea and her smiling face at humongous household chores seem forced. The author paints Aparna’s character with a lot of colours and as a result, she becomes unreal many a time. In fact, Sandipta takes the character in her stride and makes it convincing purely by her experience and calibre in acting on TV for years. She is, indeed, captivating after the first episode.  

Verdict: Noshtoneer is a one-time watch. Do not watch it for any social messages. But watch it to see the resilience of women when they are wronged – both when they win and when they lose.