Review of Bengali movie "Chatushkone"

Master story teller Srijit Mukherji is back with yet another unconventional and engaging story in the form of "Chatushkone". With his every film he keeps experimenting and he has continued that trend with this film too. It is only Srijit Mukherjee who can think to cast four directors as a lead instead of mainstream actors ( though at last moment he has to cast two actors due to some casting issues). This is a journey of four different person and their self discovery with a brilliant twist at the end.

It is the story of four directors who are from different backgrounds; Dipto (Chiranjit Chakraborty) a well known actor of mainstream cinema and a director too of commercial Bengali movies, Shakyo (Gautam Ghosh) a well known cinematographer turned director who use to make movies mostly for festival circuits, Trina (Aparna Sen) an actor turned director who was a glamorous heroine at one time and now a successful director and Joybrato (Parambrata Chatterjee) an actor who is also interested to be a director and has directed few movies but is more successful as an actor than director. Very interestingly the characters has too much similar career graph with the real life actors who has played the characters on screen and it works in favor of the movie. But the similarity ends with the career-graph only their reel life relationship is quite different than real life.

One fine day all these four directors gets an opportunity from a rich producer to make a film together where there will be four different stories directed by the four of them. The producer is ready to spend any amount of money but he has only two conditions all the four stories should have a common theme that is death and all the four directors have to go to an isolated island (Henry's Island) to meet the producer personally to narrate their stories. After some initial inhibition they agreed to work on this project together and started their journey. On their way in the journey the story unfolds more details about each of the individual , their relationship with each other and their background too. At the climax there is a big twist which is very tough to guess from earlier and this adds the much needed boost to the story at the end.

It is of course a suspense thriller but unlike a typical thriller it is not fast paced rather it goes on smoothly so that the audience can have enough time to know more about the characters so that they can be well prepared for the climax. The screenplay has been written very well which keeps the audiences engaged throughout the film. Although in the beginning it may look little confusing to some people as two parallel stories were continuing in past and present but till the end everything gets cleared so at the end no question remains unanswered. Another credit should be given to the story writer Srijit Mukherji  as he has written four separate independent stories apart from the main story. These stories have been used as the film conceptualized by the directors in the film. The way the films within the film has been inserted in the screenplay that is also commendable. It never looks forced and also it never looks that the short stories are impacting the main story because the short stories itself are very much engaging.  The dialogues also goes very well with the

situations and characters. There are some reference to the actor's real life which adds some humor too , like the way Parambrata's character Joy keeps making fun of the films which Parambrata has directed so far in real life, or when Dipto played by Chiranjeet is describing his story his wife's character has been shown using Kirron Kher's picture which reminds us of "Bariwaali".Also there is the so much famous dialogue of Chiranjeet "Bou harale bou paoa jay kintu Maa harale Maa paoa jay na".

As a director there is nothing new to say about Srijit Mukherji, with every new film he is continuing to be better. Here too his detailing for every technical aspects is praise worthy, not only in the main story but also in the short stories which comes as a film into the film. As the story is about directors so he has got enough chance too to show how he himself gets prepared for the perfect presentation, for example when every director in the movie are discussing about their short films they also discuss about the production design , the camerawork , the characterization. Apart from the modern day story there is a flashback too set in the retro era of 70s that also has been handled very well by the director.

There are four main lead actors and all of them are brilliant. Aparna Sen acts very much real

like her own real life personality.She is good in the character of a director as well as a middle aged married woman who still cares for the guy who was her love interest at one point of her life. Gautam Ghosh is also very natural. He has underplayed his character of a director as well as a common friend between two separated lovers.Both Aparna Sen and Gautam Ghosh have got chance to act something different from their real life in the short stories directed by their characters. They are too good in that too. Chiranjeet is mainly a commercial film star and his only claim to fame as an actor was "Bariwaali" so far, so there was lots of doubt about his casting , but after watching the film everyone will understand how well he has done as the arrogant director Dipto as well as the helpless smoking addict Bedashruti in his short story. He has acted beyond expectation in both the characters. Parambrata Chatterjee also outshines along with the senior actors. He has provided some light moments in the middle of the serious acting done by the senior actors. The way he has played spoof on his directorial films is quite funny. Although in the beginning his portrayal of the under confident junior director seems quite similar with his portrayal of the character of Haru from his last release "Hercules". But at the climax he will definitely get accolades from everyone.

Among the supporting cast there is a bunch of seasoned actors who have appeared in one

scene appearances or in an extended cameo. Among them the person who is undoubtedly the best is Kaushik Ganguly. Even in his one (if we neglect his blink and miss appearance in the beginning) scene appearance, he has proved his talent. Among the others Payel Sarkar, the successful actress from mainstream commercial cinema has done quite better job than her earlier performances as an actresses of Black and White era. Her make up is too good. Only she could have been little less louder in the scene where she is fighting with her boyfriend over some ego clashes. Indrashis and Rahul are good with their expressions and makes their presence felt even with very less dialogues.  Barun Chanda has once again proved his acting skills in the character of Malay(Trina's husband). 
The other actors who have shined in the cameos are Koneenica Banerjee, Arpita Chatterjee, Sumit Samddar, Shantilal Mukherjee, Anindya Chatterjee, Neel Mukherjee, Deboleena Dutt.

The technical team has also supported a lot to represent the director's vision to the big screen and make it a audio visual treat. Cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee's camerawork is

exceptionally well. The way he has played with different shades and colors to show the different stories is awesome.He has used a variety of colors from black & white to blue to red to sepia. The DOP has shot every single shot in such a way that he has brought life to even the background and the objects, whether it is a burnt cigarette butt thrown on the road or four candles lighting on a table. The other brilliant technician in the crew is the editor Rabiranjan Moitra. He has blended all four sub tracks so well in the main story , it is truly commendable, hats off to him.The background music by Indradip Dashgupta is very effective to portray the emotions of the character in a better way. The production design and sound design is also brilliant, not only in the main story but also in the four short films. Special mention should be given for the way Bedashruti's room has been decorated and thanks to the director for explaining the production design process in the segment using the character of Dipto as the narrator.

The music is always a plus point in Srijit Mukherjee's film and probably he used to lock all the best tracks of his friend and composer Anupam Roy to use in his movies. There is not too much scope to fit songs in the narration so there is only four song in the film even in that last two songs are there in last 10 minutes. All the songs are good but the two songs which will remain with you for a long time is "Boba Tunnel" and "Basanto Ese Gechhe".

Over all "Chatushkone" is yet another brilliant film from Srijit Mukherjee. The best gift for this Puja to the Bengali film audiences as well as the Bengali film industry. Go and enjoy the film and you will get to see four interesting short films too as Puja bonus .