Starring Silajit Majumder and Aparajita Adhya, the recently released film Pratyabartan, directed by Samarpan Sengupta, is a film about homecoming. Dealing with themes related to modern urban life, relationships and loneliness, it talks about the need to return to roots and the importance of restoration of familial bonds through a story that hauntingly resonates with the contemporary audience.

Performed by Iman Chakraborty, Aila na re, a song from Pratyabartan’s soundtrack, is a folk tune with a sombre, melancholy melody. It is the tearful cry of a woman waiting for her partner who has not returned home and for whom she pines and continues to wait. The song mentions storms, doom, death and destruction, perhaps a metaphor for the turbulence and upheavals in relationships endured by the family in the film. Sung with an emotion and intensity that signifies a heaviness of heart, the song draws attention to the various kinds of unhappy family relationships found in Pratyabartan, suggesting that the loosening of family bonds is the cause of the distress, hardships and calamities faced by its characters.

The music video opens with an emotional reunion between father (Anjan Dutt) and son (Silajit) after prolonged estrangement, indicating that their relationship will be an important component of the story. Though the central crisis in the film revolves around Disha, the teenaged daughter of doctor parents played by Silajit and Aparajita Adhya, this song shifts focus to its other aspects. The central crisis of the film is referred to in brief. It is compared to the much deeper crisis of a poor couple in the village where Disha’s grandparents live, all of whom play a crucial role in the plot of Pratyabartan. The stark contrast between the lives of poverty-stricken villagers and that of wealthy, urban folks is clearly hinted at in the music video — of how their troubles are very different but their sorrows similar.

Aila na re is also about nostalgia and memories, which gush forth in the minds of the successful doctor duo when they return to their home in the village after many years. Their awareness of their failure to return to the homestead for a long period of time deepens their guilt, making them conscious of their own culpability. The song is also about death, reminding listeners of the truth of mortality and of the need to cherish and nurture relationships. The visuals reveal that the song is part of an album of songs named Nithur Bandhu, performed by Shalini (Aparajita Adhya) in her youth. It reminds her of her past and of her forgotten talent, making her yearn to return to the simplicity and happy days of her past. The song speaks of loss, agony and frustration. Yet it also indicates a catharsis and rejuvenation. Heart-touching in tone and content, Aila na re is a song of contemplation, introspection, of the acknowledgement of flaws and the reawakening of a deeper consciousness in its central characters.

The photography of the music video is artistic, almost poetic, capturing moments of silence that eloquently articulate the film’s concurrent themes of family bonding and return to roots. Composed by Bonnie Chakraborty and with lyrics by Anindya Bose, Aila na re, with its evocative, expressive words and soul-stirring tunes, continues to echo in the ears of the listener long after its last strains have been sung.