The city of Calcutta had substantially changed because of several factors, such as post-war effects, the famine, the cessation of East Bengal, conflicts between the political parties, economic crisis, the incessant riots, and the uprising of the Naxalite movement. All of the factors led to the decline of civil machinery, and this decline had a huge impact on the population as it drove them towards the dark path of corruption, immorality, and chicanery. And through these factors, the city forces people to abandon their moral values and integrity.
In the opening scene of the movie, there is an examination going on. Every student is cheating blatantly, and the invigilator is observing everything without making any effort to change the situation. The invigilators are present there as mute spectators and they’re not doing anything to stop the students from cheating. Somnath (the protagonist) is busy writing his answer, oblivious and unaffected by what’s happening in the examination hall. In one of the scenes, when Somnath is asked to pass the cheat sheet, he doesn’t object to it and accepts to pass it on. It becomes clear that Somnath isn’t actively cheating in the examination, but he passively taking part in it. He can be seen as the middleman, in the act of passing the cheat sheet from one student to another. It is evident from the scene that the invigilators have accepted the wrong-doings of the students, and they have reluctantly consented to this system. A parallel can be drawn between the invigilator and the politicians, both of them know about the wrongdoings that are taking place, but still, both of them fail to take any preventive measure towards it.
The following scene after the examination takes place in the house of the teacher, who is checking the papers of the students. The scene distinctly brings out the destitute condition of the teacher, he is working in a dimly lit room and he is unable to read the tiny handwriting because he cannot afford new prescription glasses. This impoverished state of the teacher establishes that he is overworked and underpaid. Thereafter, the teacher sends his son to ask the neighbor for their glasses, but the neighbor wasn’t home. Due to his inability to read the answer scripts properly, the teacher gives Somnath the marks which were enough for him to pass but not sufficient to get Honours. Little did the teacher know, that this act of giving only passing marks to Somnath would have dire and far-reaching consequences on Somnath’s life.
Further on, Somnath’s father is shocked to see his son’s result as he didn’t get Honours, and Somnath’s father plans to get his son’s paper re-checked. To this Somnath’s brother, Bhombol, responds by saying that it’s futile to get the paper rechecked, they might increase Somnath’s marks, but they would never give him Honours because they would never admit that they were irresponsible. This scene lays down the critique of the education system and demonstrates that how rigid and chaotic, the educational establishment has become.
Later on, both Somnath and Sukumar (Somnath’s friend) apply for a job. They discover that there are 1 lakh applications for only 10 job vacancies. This exhibits rampant unemployment during the 1970s in Calcutta. Sukumar realizes that each application requires three postal orders, which would further lead to 3 lakh postal orders (based on 1 lakh job applications), but there is only one person to sign these postal orders. This signifies the lack of staff members available in the postal system to complete the work efficiently. Therefore, Sukumar pragmatically assessed that the chance of getting the job is zero. The condition of the letterbox, in which Somnath posted his resume, and the postal system being understaffed. Both of these situations highlight the constant decline of the city and the dreadful consequences of such a decline in the population of the city.
Sukumar takes Somnath along with him, to meet his friend who is a Member of Parliament, and to discuss the hardships faced by both of them regarding employment. After hearing the problems raised by Sukumar, the MP replies by saying that they cannot be blamed for this widespread unemployment because they haven’t been in power for long and he conveniently puts the entire blame on the previous government for the recent mishaps faced by the youth. The statement made by the MP is highly problematic, and it is a circular argument used by the politicians to justify their lack of efficiency. Also, the MP gives them the example of the sacrifices made by Vidyasagar and he also, insists that both Sukumar and Somnath should make sacrifices for the country. This indirectly means that the youth should make peace with the current reality and wait for better jobs to come their way. Until that time arrives, they should do some menial jobs and give up on their dreams for the “greater good of the country” as pointed out by the MP.
Even when Somnath is running around and applying for job vacancies. In the background, the walls have banners of CPI(M), which is later on removed, and changed with the banners of Congress. This indicates the change in government, but no actual change has taken place in the mechanism and working of the city. This poignantly highlights the lack of interest of the political parties to bring about any change in the city for the betterment. The extent of corruption remains the same and the city is still in a constant decline.
In an ingenious scene, Somnath’s father asks both of his sons several questions about the Naxalite movement, and he is surprised by the fact that how the young generation embraces death without any hesitation unless there is a great ideal which inspires this kind of courage. Somnath’s father, being a freedom fighter himself, and his failure to understand the young generation, poignantly explains the state of the city during those tumultuous times. Somnath’s father fails to understand that unlike pre-independence, where the British were the enemy, but this time, the city is the enemy, and not an external party. The enemy was present in the system itself.
Eventually, Somnath is able to finally reach the interviewing process for the job vacancies he applied for. But to Somnath’s misfortune, in all of these interviews, the officials kept asking totally irrelevant questions. Questions such as “What is the speed of light,” “What is the weight of the moon,” and many more questions which were in no way related with the job. The interviewing process, in a nutshell, displays the highly flawed machinery of employment, and how insignificant these interviewing processes are in order to decide the best and the most suitable candidate for the job.
After another hopeless interview, Somnath heads out and accidentally slips on a banana peel thrown by Bishuda (Somnath’s old friend). This scene is foreshadowing the fall of Somnath in terms of his moral principles, due to Bishuda. Later on, Bishuda and Somnath start talking about their lives, and Somnath expresses his problem in finding a job. When Bishuda and Somnath are walking together, the camera focuses on the condition of the road, which has huge potholes, puddles and lots of garbage. This impoverished state of road acts as a constant reminder of the deteriorating condition of the city. After hearing Somnath’s problems, Bishuda put forwards the idea of being a middleman between buyer and supplier (Bishuda was also a middleman).
Bishuda says that as a middleman, Somnath can choose to sell and buy, whatever he wants. This straightforward statement made by Bishuda perfectly encapsulates the dilemma faced by a middleman, and later on, this would turn out to be extremely troublesome for Somnath as a middleman.
As Somnath establishes himself as a middleman, under the name of Modern Trader Business. He is able to get a few contracts initially, with the help of his friends because his friends arrange meetings for Somnath with buyers. Further on, Somnath’s friend recommends Somnath to the Chief Officer of Kejriwal Textile, Manohar Goenka for a contract of optical whiteners. Somnath seeks help from Mitter (Public Relations Officer) to put this contract in motion. Mitter acts as a fixer, he finds people’s weak spots and exploits and manipulates those weak spots for his benefit. Little did Somnath know that Mitter was also going to exploit his weak spot i.e. Somnath is an innocent fool and clueless about the cruel side of this money-oriented society. Mitter tells Somnath that they can get the contract if Somnath agrees to arrange a sex worker for Manohar Goenka, arranged by Mitter himself.
“This is also a commodity and aren’t you a supplier?” This mere utterance made by Mitter tragically displays the modern society as a red-light district, where anything can be bought and sold. Human beings are reduced to a mere commodity, and the value of human life has been trivialized in this city, where money is given the utmost importance. After intense persuasion for quite some time, Somnath reluctantly accepts the arrangement made by Mitter.
Before executing the plan laid down by Mitter, Somnath has a conversation with his sister-in-law regarding his profession. They’re having the conversation in a dimly lit room. Somnath lights a matchstick from the flame of the candle, while discussing what actually has become of his profession – from a middleman, he has become a pimp. The flame of the candle symbolizes all of the wrongdoings prevalent in the city. The act of Somnath lighting his matchstick from the flame of the candle signifies that he will be doing certain wrongful acts which are widespread in the city, such as, acting as a pimp in exchange for a big contract. He’s committing this act to succeed in life. This exhibits the decline of Somnath’s moral values, and it marks the downward spiral of Somnath’s life. This scene also establishes the constant electricity cuts prevalent in the city, these electricity cuts are showcased throughout the movie. It goes on to focus on the inefficiency of the administrative structure of the city.
To arrange a sex worker, both Somnath and Mitter first go to a woman’s house. There it is revealed that the woman is engaged in sex work so she could afford liquor for her husband. Her husband is a municipal clerk, which moreover highlights the problem of being underpaid. But her husband refuses her from working that night, by saying that they don’t need that much of cash flow. After being let down from the first place, both of them go to another place. Here, a widow resides along with her two daughters. She acts as a pimp for both of her daughters. The widow uses her house as the place of occupation i.e. sex work. The widow refuses to send her daughter to the hotel, and she insists that Mitter brings the client to their house. Both of these situations display the decay of the social fabric of the city. The social fabric which is knitted on integrity, compassion, and humanity, is being torn apart because of the city.
Finally, they find a someone who agrees to go to the hotel, but it turns out to be Sukumar’s sister. In one of the earlier scenes, when Somnath starts earning, he visits Sukumar’s house. The scene flawlessly captures the struggle faced by lower-middle-class families. It focused on the hardship of such families by showing a cramped house, father feeling helpless because of his underpaid job, five children, out of which some are sick and consuming homeopathic medicines because they can’t afford allopathic medication. The city of Calcutta drove Sukumar’s sister towards the track of sex work, just like it drove Somnath towards the path of immorality and bribery. Ultimately, Somnath supplies the commodity to Manohar Goenka. He arranges for Sukumar’s sister to visit Manohar Goenka in exchange for a contract.
In the final scene, when Somnath is walking down the hallway after committing the immoral act, it becomes clear that he no longer exudes innocence. He will now constantly feel the urge to hide underneath his own shadow. This scene is transitioned with the harrowing face of Somnath’s father, which indicates that Somnath’s father’s worst nightmare has come true.
In one of the earlier scenes, Somnath and his whole family are having dinner, and both Somnath and his brother discuss how widespread corruption is. His father was mournful over the fact that bribery is prevalent everywhere. Everything that his father stood against, Somnath had now embraced.
The faltering civil machinery, which is manifested in the deteriorating employability and the incompetent educational system, led to all but one inevitable conclusion. It was Somnath’s destined path towards the dungeons of corruption and immorality. He had failed against, or rather, was not even given a chance to resist the constant beating of the savagery of the so-called civil society of Calcutta. The flower of maturity blooms, but only to swell in vice and foster in eventual moral regret. Morality is easier to come by when everything is in one’s favour. But in this harsh reality, the city consumes one’s moral values and principles.