Hirer Angti

Based on a novel by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay's famous 'Adbhuturay' series, this movie is a new world fantasy fable. First work of Ghosh, while he was still working advertisement industry, but this was made accessible to us much later, after the super-underground cult success and celebration of 'Patalghar'. Technical department was pretty good, but that did not help this movie's flatly adapted narrative. The beauty of the story itself was the one pillar which helped this film to stand still till the end. If someone thinks that I am going too much harsh on this film, my counter would be this movie I watched after all the prime works of Ghosh and no wonder it disappointed me.

Interestingly, late Rituparno Ghosh's first film HIRER ANGTI (1992) bears a striking resemblance to Satyajit Ray's last film AGUNTUK (1991). HIRER ANGTI was based on a story by Shirsendu Mukhopadhyay, while AGUNTUK was based on a story by the director himself.

In both the films a stranger arrives in the midst of a family causing disquiet turning their lives upside down. There is a booty to be recovered by the stranger who is a widely traveled soul endowed with a flair for the language. While the Ray film expounded on world issues and tribal heritage, RG's film is intrigue driven complete with dacoit and fake actors.

The question begging to be asked: "Was HIRER ANGTI a tribute to Ray?"... I didn't catch the segment when the credits rolled and am not sure about HIRER ANGTI actually being an ode to Ray & his AGUNTUK..If it isn't, as it could be because the writers are different, the similarities are not all that easy to ignore...

Rating: 3.7 out of 5