Chotushkone

A married woman's hand writing, apparently, her last letter; an exhausted man returning home after a day's work, rather languidly, only to find his wife hanging from the ceiling of his house with his son looking at the lifeless frame ( all shot in the sepia tone ); two actors of the past era trying to come to terms with their differences and mouthing lines from Tagore's Ghare Baire only to widen the chasm between them all the more; the actors requesting a director to become producer and suggesting their friend as the director; the start of the shooting ( all shot in black and white ) - the film kicks off with moments ( scenes ) like these, which, along the warp and woof of the creative piece by Srijit, are strewn about as are dried-up and shrivelled-up leaves on an avenue to give the way its realism and magic realism. A viewer would find it hard to relate these scenes with the main plot along the progression of the movie till the unknotting.

The film tells, or rather, seems to tell the story of four film- makers who have been assigned the task of directing four short films for a single anthology of a film with the common theme of death. This venture brings together Trina ( Aparna Sen ), Shakyo ( Goutam Ghosh ), Dipta ( Chiranjeet ), Jayabrata ( Parambrata ). They all go out to the Henry's Island to discuss at length about the film where the idiosyncrasies of the characters ( directors themselves ) are brought to the fore. Their past lives catch up with them - their successes, their failures, their deeds, misdeeds, regrets and all that have made them what they are. The pinch of dark humour can be felt at times, in fact, with increasing frequency, near the end of the movie.

The overriding themes of love, betrayal, retribution, regret, repercussion and their interplay with inklings of several other undercurrents of themes of 'smoking and the sensor board', 'smoking and health injury', 'life likened to the game of cards', 'creator and the created', 'life and afterlife', 'reel and real' and so on appear at proper places to hammer sensibility into the minds of the audience and the people of the society thereof.

Use of colour has been a significant contribution to the film. Starting from sepia to black-white to colour with green, red, blue and the former two in between create a strange embroidery of insights relating directly or indirectly to the main plot of the film.

Astute cinematography by Sudeep Chatterjee captures a vengeful Jayabrata inching towards his goal, the reel-life characters unwittingly revealing, with their characteristic behaviour and style, their real-life dilemmas and situations. Anupam's lyrics at just places give rise to the progression towards the dénouement.

An erudite Srijit never misses a chance to allude to Ghare Baire, Mr and Mrs Iyer, Troyee, the Pandora's Box, Shakespeare, King-Queen- Jack-and-Joker, etc. to accentuate the effect at various moments in the film. Every moment, every incident seem to be connected to the main plot. When Shakyo and Dipta sit in a room and discuss about films, they both have the cards King-Queen-Jack without each of them knowing it. This indicates a rift of friendship between them despite their overtly good bonding. It also indicates that the unknown angle ('kone' or the Joker) would appear before them to complete the quadrangle or the fourth cards of the quartet. The Joker or Jayabrata leaves no stone unturned to let not a minute pinch of suspicion lay waste his platter-full plan of liquidating the three directors in a bungalow till the very fag end. The sudden realization of the whole story of four short films being a pretext makes the three captive directors nonchalant as a lull before the storm; and they do realize that a stormy death is what they each deserve for a family was laid waste long back only because of them. The Pandora's Box is opened very slowly and silently along the progression of the film, but Hope reigns at last when Dipta and Trina, together, take responsibility of the mad film producer essayed by Kaushik Ganguly and he does it beyond comparison.

To sum up, it can be said that the director makes the film socially acceptable by meting out justice when Jayabrata receives the shot meant for Trina and his song 'Chiro shokha hey...' stops abruptly. 'An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind' rings in everyone's ears long after the film has ended.

It is still the best from Srijit, better than Baishe Sharbon.

Intriguing plot, outstandingly presented through breathtaking storytelling.

Worthy of multiple viewing!!

'Chotushkone' if translated into English, would probably mean 'Four Corners'.

The beginning of the film throws a question on the identity of the three characters - the woman who commits suicide, the man, and the little child. They have been blurred tactfully.

The sub plot enacted by Payel, Indrashish and Rahul create an enigma regarding their connection to the main plot. Every time they appear, the quench arises - when and how will they connect with the main plot.

The sub plots have been smoothly blended, and the climax resolves all the dilemmas. The topsy and turvy nature of the climax was like a bolt from the blue. Unexpected and that's why amazing.

A few things that need special mention -

1. Chiranjit appeared in a new avatar in his acting career. Truly praiseworthy.

2. Kaushik Ganguly acted freely and brilliantly. The best I would say in the film.

3. The film has been shot in a variety of hues. Colour, Black and white and the three stories in Green, Red and Blue.

4. The name of the fictional producer's production house was 'Pandora's Box'. Liked the name. Parambrata mentions it to Aparna the moment they were about to step onto the terrace of Aparna's house. This happens toward's the beginning.

Pandora's box was from the Greek myths. They say, that in Pandora's box dwelled four elements. When the box was opened, three escaped from it and spread across the world. The box was a gift of Zeus to Pandora (first woman on Earth) to punish the earthlings. Zeus was annoyed on us as Prometheus had stolen fire from the Olympians and given it to us - mankind. The three elements which escaped from the box were DEATH, DESTRUCTION and DISEASE. When Pandora hurried to close the box, the last element got entrapped and could never come out. It was HOPE.

Death, Destruction and Disease can be the three veteran film personnel in the film and the last one Hope represented by Parambrata. His hope that he may seek vengeance against the seekers (unknowingly) of Death, Destruction and Disease to his family.

5. Liked the card playing sequence where Chiranjit and Goutam arrange the cards accordingly. Each of them had three cards. Same set for both. King, Queen and J. King - Chiranjit, Queen - Aparna - and J - Goutam. Deeply connected with their personal lives.

6. Found the walk of a drunkard funny. He looked like a fast walking zombie. Bedosruti Dey encountered this drunkard on the road. The first person whom he knocked for a cigarette.

7. The theme of death gets celebrated in the movie. Begins and ends with death.

Srijit Mukherjee has taken Bengali cinema to new heights with movies like 'Autograph', 'Hemlock Society', 'Baishe Srabon' & 'Jaatishwar'. He surpasses himself with 'Chotushkone'. The plot is complex and gripping with a mind-blowing twist at the end. Aparna Sen, Chiranjit Chakraborty, Gautam Ghosh and Kaushik Ganguly give commendable performances. But among all these veterans it is Parambrata Chattapadhay who steals the show with his phenomenal performance. Cinematography is very good. Two great tracks further enhance the movie- 'Boba Tunnel' is a trademark Anupam Roy song and 'Bawshto ese geche' is melodious sung beautifully by Lagnajita Chakraborty. All in all, an excellent movie. Highly recommended.

This Movie is about four directors and their stories. Although the Jatissor directed by Shreejit Mukherjee did not look good, this movie is remarkable in one word. First of all, it's a suicide story and gradually I like the story of storytelling. Suspense is there, but you can not understand when it comes from somewhere. Along with this, the rituals of the 1970s were quite wide. The two stories of parallel plot can be estimated in many ways, the director has not shown anything incomplete, three stories of three director characters are different. And Kaushik Ganguly, at the end of the final few beautiful scenes. The songs are very good Those who did not see, saw them. You can not imagine what the end is waiting for you. See good movie Be good