Bulbul Can Sing: Rima Das’ visually arresting film tackles adolescent romance, moral policing in rural Assam

We can speculate to a great extent about the symbolism here, but this striking, tender opening, coupled with the following scene involving Bulbul and her friends Bonny (Banita Thakuriya) and Suman (Manoranjan Das) discussing a female ghost with particular inclination for young girls, has a peculiarly dreamy quality. At the same time, somehow, it does not look out of place alongside the naturalistic style of the rest of the film.

Das, who also directed the brilliant Village Rockstars, India’s official entry for Oscars in 2018, once again turns her gaze to rural Assam, in all its richly realised, visually arresting verdant glory. Quality cinema is said to have its own world, with a feel and sense to it that extends way beyond what is portrayed on the screen.

To achieve this, Das uses scenes that are not meaningful in themselves and do not directly pertain to the central plot, but go a long way in embellishing this rustic milieu and making it feel lived-in.

For instance, in one scene, Bulbul’s forbidding father bickers with a neigbour after the latter’s cow strays into his fields, grazing on his crops. In another, he argues with a friend about which livestock is useful — cow and goats or pigs. While pigs are disgusting, they are also famously fecund, thus more profitable.

The crux of the plot concerns the three friends and their complex ways to navigate their rural lives. Bulbul is a bright girl on the verge of womanhood, and has fallen in love with a boy who writes poetry for her. Bonny is similarly smitten with another boy. Suman, though, appears above hormonal desires, but faces bullying over his name and mannerisms that are deemed feminine.

Among other things, Bulbul Can Sing tackles oppressive societal norms, patriarchy, and moral policing. A scene illustrating the last one, which is an India-specific term denoting vigilantism against consenting couples feels brutally lifelike. Despite such heavy themes, however, the tone is light for the most part though admittedly Bulbul Can Sing is not as feel good as Village Rockstars.

Banita Thakuriya, Manoranjan Das, and Arnali Das in Bulbul Can Sing.

Rima Das has emerged as one fine indie Indian filmmaker who has a unique voice and style. She saturates her slice-of-life stories with fidelity to the mundane and the real, and yet manages to impart a whimsy, dreamy character to the story. The best of both worlds.

Bulbul Can Sing is streaming on Netflix.

Tip: As mentioned, the films revels in tiny details, and thus demands attention despite sparse plotting. So watch this movie when you have nothing else to do.

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