Review of Bengali film Bheetu

After making his directorial debut with a satire "Half Serious" director Utsav Mukherjee is back in a totally different form with a dark thriller with "Bheetu".In his second movie he tried a totally different way to deal with the dark side of human psychology.

It is a story of two sisters Rohini (Sudeepta Chakraborty) and Sohini (Parno Mitra). Both of them do not share a good rapport though Rohini loves her younger sister Sohini very much but Sohini is not very fond of her elder sister. Because she always thinks that when she used

to be abused by one of her uncle in her childhood, her elder sister could have save her from that but she did not managed to get the courage to protest that. So Sohini has not forgiven her elder sister. Both the sisters have their own problems too in their lives to deal with. Rohini has became a handicapped due to a fatal accident and for her physical disability her husband (Anindya Banerjee) wants to divorce her and also he wants to take back their daughter Jojo with him. All this mental stress has made Rohini mentally too weak to resist against anything. She doesn't have the courage to protest for herself or for her family. On the other hand Sohini is confident working woman who lives her life on her own terms. She has a boyfriend Andy(Saheb bahttacharya) and she is happy with him. But somewhere in the deep in her mind she is yet to recover the trauma of her disturbed childhood but she tries to hide her fear within herself and at least tries to protest if something is going wrong with her. There is another important character too who has a large impact on Sohini's life and he is Ronny(Ritwick Chakraborty) a waiter by profession at Andy's father's restaurant. Ronny is a pervert with psychological disorder. He is too much obsessive about Sohini and can go to any extent to get her. He has an unsatisfied sexual life and he does very absurd things for that like capturing  videos of girls in his mobile or collecting under garments of women. In the beginning Ronny started as a stalker but later his obsession for Sohini grows much more and at one point Sohini also understands that. Now how Sohini will fight back against Ronny and will Rohini can help her this time by overcoming her internal fear that forms the climax.

The subject is relatively fresh and rare for Bengali movies but the screenplay is not a smooth one to justify the subject totally. The screenplay has its low points and high points it does

not go in a same pace. It starts in a promising note where we can see two young girls have been raped and murdered by a group of goons. Later the story shifts to the two sister's personal life but an investigation for the two murder's keeps on going on a parallel track. Which looks out of place though the stories got connected in the climax but before that audience will be clueless to think why the parallel track is going on. Also in the first half there are some scenes and a song too involving Andy and Sohini's love story which was not required and it makes the film lengthier. Even in the second half specially in the climax involving the two sisters and Ronny and his sidekick has been stretched out a bit more. But the twist in the tale at the end saves its faults too some extent. Another minus point for the film is its too much boldness, though it is an adult film but there are some scenes which are very much disturbing specially the rape scenes. It could have been shot in a more subtle way without being too direct. 

As a director Utsav Mujherjee should be given credit for choosing a bold and a different subject. he has handled this mature subject quite well but he should have been a bit more control to his screenplay and editing to keep the pace a bit fast for the film. 

Among the actors who has snatched attention from the crowd is none other than Ritwick Chakraborty. As the sly pervert negative character Ronny , he is just awesome. His body

language and his dialogue delivery is in very much sync with his onscreen character. He has portrayed it so well that you will hate him for being such a negative character and that is his prove that he is a brilliant actor. Only in the climax he has done little more drama which could have been avoided.
Another brilliant actor in this brigade is Sudeepta Chakraborty. Her portrayal of a helpless handicapped Rohini is superb. She has less dialogues but she has managed to express with her eyes as well face.
Parno Mitra has a very good scope to showcase her talent and she shines in some parts too but still it can be said she is not mature enough as an actor to handle such complex role. But she is improving herself as an actress film by film and we should encourage her for that.
Saheb Bhattachraya has very little to do and he is just okay in that. Anindya Banerjee has left his impression in only four scene role. Watch out him in his first scene where he tells Sohini that he will leave his wife Rohini. His facial expressions shows his characters' hesitation very well.Kamaleshwar Mukherjee has played a police officer who is   investigating the murder case of two girls. He is a very good actor and done a goo job. His scenes with his junior are the only source of of humor in this serious film. But one thing need to be said that Kamaleshwar is too good as an actor to play such unimportant characters. The rest of the cast members are just okay.

The technical team of the film has done an average job. There is scope of improvement specially in the editing department. The music of the film is also not too much popular and it does not lives with you even after leaving the theaters. The songs have not been used that well in the movie too.

Overall it a refreshing subject and if you like psychological thriller then you can give it a watch. But the USP of the film is obviously the acting by Ritwick Chakraborty and Sudeepta Chaltrabrty.