Hemlock Society

Concept: I'm really amazed by the concept of the movie. I have never seen such a movie in any language. Read one story in my childhood in similar concept and happened to come by an article few days ago. But, I could never imagine someone would ever dare to make a movie on this topic. Topic? If summarized its "Assisted Suicide"! To make it more clear, let me translate the tagline of the movie i.e. "Morbe moro chorio na" (Die if you want but don't embarrass). So there is private organization which helps people to commit suicide successfully! Provides a 3 days crash course to enlighten the participants about various methods to suicide. What not to do and what to do etc. Meghna(Koel Mallik) recently has broken up with her bf. She's very upset after breaking up a 14yrs long relationship and wants to end herself. Enter Ananda Kar(Parambrata) the CEO of "Hemlock Society". He asks her to join the course so she could die properly without embarrassing everyone including herself. Rest you need to see.

Character development: Only two characters come into focus since the movie begins. Meghna and Ananda, even though I would say its Koel's movie. She first time got the chance to break out of her usual happy, bubbly, naughty characters. Her d-glam representation is also something she tried first time. And, I love her so I liked her anyway Supporting characters are also very strong actors but not much explored.

Direction: So Srijit Mukherjee made a hat-trick with his 3rd movie. Another totally different subject executed very well. A very beautifully crafted movie. Well executed first half and not so well executed second half. But, I've a question to Srijit, what is this obsession of him to explain everything, every character getting justice. Life is boring, zero dramatic. Why not keep that way. Would have really loved it if the "6 months later" part was not there.

Screenplay: Slow but steady. At a length of 2 and half hours its too much. Movies on such concept should be crisp and short. Which has the scope to impact to audience. Last few minutes just dilutes everything, breaks the quirky environment it created from start.

Cinematography: Good but not great.

Songs and background score: Few are already hit. Nice mix of pop and normal filmy music. Background music is apt to situations.

Editing: Poor job with editing. The movie should have been 30 minutes shorter.

Verdict: Even with few downside this movie wins (or would win) hearts because of its subject and great acting. Watch it even if you have to watch it with subs.

When I set out to watch "Hemlock Society" , I just came back to Kolkata from a out station and I had no idea about the cast , music etc of the film .Only thing I knew that it was a Srijit Mukherjee film . So I watched that film with open mind .

Concept is no doubt good. Music is nice . But film itself became boring & predictable after interval that I felt running out of theater . Koyel Mullick as Meghna was total disaster. Parambrata as Ananda Kar did a good job.

There are many loopholes in the film. Like Soumitra's Uniform & rank . Indian Air force has White uniform and has no Colonel rank.Few shots which should have been shorter were dragging on unnecessarily.

Srijit Mukherjee's third film doesn't match up with the success of his second. This film can be seen once but if you have missed , well , you are not loosing anything.

Another masterpiece by srijit sir! Needless to say this multi-star-cast movie shows life is a gift in itself. It makes you see the world in a whole different way, achieving something or not, becoming successful or not it shares the previous things you're gonna miss if you give it up. You may think you are unhappy but there is someone else who is at more pain. Movie is art and this movie is a practical one. Obviously there were some comedy parts but unfortunately they weren't upto to mark(according to the rest of the film). Everyone did a great job especially parambrata sir! His dialogue deliveries were just touching the most realistic and dramatic notes at the same time. A bengali will always love this film because of the cast, where apu was in film city.

Concept 10/10 because of uniqueness Dialogues 8/10 barring those instrumented boredom of few situations Cinematography 10/10 - feast of watching all through, studio and outdoor Music 10/10 - generally made feel good as an album Background score - 10/10 - never became a noise Story - 5/10 - because of predictability Acting - 7/10 - Character of Shantanu never became make believe one, accents of Anindita Bose taxes auditory nerves Casting - 8/10 reasons are same as those of acting Costume - 9/10 Col Samaresh Bagchi's uniform had an Airforce badge yet the colour of uniform did not match that of Airforce, the attempt to make up the gap through dialogues is clever, but not satisfactory. Screenplay -6/10, predictability, boredom, impertinent scenes.

Director Srijit Mukherjee could not match up the expectations he has created after Baishe Shrabon. The night and morning before setting out for Hemlock Society between Ananda and Meghna could have been shorter, so could be the road journey (I had to tolerate an entire song unnecessarily), so could be the situation just before Meghna leaves Hemlock Society. Yet I thank Mr. Srijit Mukherjee for he makes me watch contemporary Bengali movies.

The dark, morbid undertone of the movie notwithstanding, this movie was a different kind of experience. At the outset, it starts on a happy note, a musical performance in a bar, a happy girl listening to the song and enjoying the moment. Suddenly, in the span of 2 minutes, the entire atmosphere takes a 180 degree turn. And thus, starts Hemlock Society.

The female lead was a big no for this kind of film. She was overacting for the most part and her entire performance looked like it needed a great deal of effort on her part to even say an entire sentence and emote at the same time. In the presence of such natural actors like Parambrata Chatterjee, Rupa Ganguly, and Dipankar De; Koel Mallick fails to live up to expectations, especially since her role was supposed to carry the film.

Instead, Parambrata Chatterjee does the job for her. A shorter role, yes, but definitely much more impactful. He was brilliant in his role and brought a different kind of vibe to this bordering-on-being-depressing kind of film. His natural dialog delivery and his expressions were perfect for his role as the slightly-mischievous, super-sarcastic Ananda Kar. The supporting cast was great and the film also featured a host of cameos by popular faces of the Bengali film industry.

At the heart of the film and its biggest asset, is the story and the way it was allowed to blossom on its own. Kudos to the director on that part because the message that was delivered was both hard-hitting, and also, easy-to-grasp. This film could have really gone out of hand but Srijit Mukherji steered the ship in the right direction and Parambrata and the supporting cast did the rest. This movie will not be appreciated by everyone but still deserves a watch if only for the message it means to put forward. Great film!