E Ki Labanye is an extremely dramatic film starring Debshankar Haldar and Locket in the lead roles which is a never ending tale about a musician and his wife and their tale of woes. Kevin (Debshankar Haldar) is an acclaimed violinist who is the most egoistic, arrogant and pompous man one can ever imagine who stays with his manager. He rescues a lady , Labanya from committing suicide one day and then they come close and even marry later. She becomes a famous dancer and his career goes downhill because of his ego and also because of his drinking problem and he can’t bear to see his wife’s success. Very soon he starts living off his wife who becomes close to Amit Chatterjee,a successful singer. There comes a point when Labanya decides to leave Kevin once and for all on her birthday when he insults her as usual, but he falls ill soon after she leaves and is admitted in a hospital. Labanya decides to stand by him .
Since it is a drama film , the film tends to drag and drag for long in this relationship tale . Debshankar's look is completely different from what we are used to seeing him and it is perfect. Playing the abusive, egoistic Kevin, he is marvelous specially in the scenes where he is drunk or even in the scene in the hospital. Locket Chatterjee provides able support as the suffering wife who stands by her husband in spite of constant abuse. Saheb Chatterjee as Amit is okay because honestly speaking, his role is very limited. However his face looks bloated and that look along with that hairstyle doesn’t suit him at all. Kaushik Chakraborty does an excellent job as Kevin’s manager who supports and stands by his friend at all times. This story is an all too familiar tale of male ego and a clash of personalities which we have all seen at some point in our life between a well known couple or people known to us personally.
While the music is okay, it is Arpita Chatterjee (yes, the actress and Prosenjit’s wife) whose rendition of E Ki Labanye,a Rabindrasangeet of the name of the film is quite impressive . Who knew she could sing so well ?
The only thing worth watching in this film is Debshankar Haldar who shines in this otherwise never ending tale of unhappiness and friction between a couple.