Sampurna (2023) S2

Does marriage mean the end of a woman’s rights over her own body? As Sampurna raises her voice against the abuse Nandini’s husband inflicts on the latter, her family and the law of society turn out to be the biggest obstacles in her quest for justice.

Tackling a subject as sensitive as marital rape with a strong female-centric narrative is not an easy task, but Sayantan Ghosal tries to weave a believable plot that slowly stretches across the span of six episodes. Sampurna isn’t very fast-paced, and has a decided weight to it. That weight often is depressing but aptly so. The subject tackled is extremely serious and the director puts a righteous amount of weight on it, but perhaps that is what makes this series a slightly triggering and disturbing watch.

The series opens to the household of Sampurna (Sohini Sarkar), who’s preparing for her brother-in-law’s marriage. However, it is quickly dampened after her mother-in-law objects to it, because apparently their charts don’t match. Now here, the viewers may be confused as to understand the logic behind horoscope matching literally days ahead of the wedding, but this little willing suspension of disbelief brings to the forefront the timid Nandini (Rajnandini Paul), who is then married off to Raktim (Anubhav Kanjilal), after which she enters Sampurna’s domain, where she lives with her mother-in-law, husband and husband’s brother. What follows is a series of domestic abuse and sexual violence, where grim music plays in an the backdrop, as scene after scene is dedicated to viciousness and cruelty. It’s then that Sampurna discovers what’s going on.
Sohini Sarkar is fluent as Sampurna, her character faintly reminiscent of Meenakshi Seshadri of Damini, and that works to her benefit. Her effervescence, tired smile, the quiet grace, and the almost stoic silences in scenes where the viewer can almost read the way her mind’s working, are articulated quite well, and her performance is definitely the star of this show.
Laboni Sarkar as the mother-in-law, Aloka, is wonderfully restrained at times, her measured dialogues creating her persona beyond words, a feat that gains pace as the plot progresses. Rajnandini Paul’s Nandini is a delicate creature, often misunderstood, but could have probably been more vociferous and articulate in crucial scenes where her words are important to be heard. The male characters don’t leave much of an impression as their characters didn’t get the scope to develop much, quite like the female friendship established between the two main characters – Sampurna and Nandini.
The music is rather dramatic sometimes, however, it adds to the ambience of horror and shock. Dialogues could have been scripted better at times, but that said, this is definitely a series that has many pertinent points to make, but in doing so, it becomes slightly traumatic to watch at times, which is perhaps what the director wanted in the first place.

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