When Kaushik Ganguly makes a film one can be assured that he is going to experience an unique subject, same happens with #Bashtushaap. We all know about Bashtu is an ancient Indian practice to design your home correctly to bring happiness and prosperity in your home.But Mr. Ganguly has taken this concept to another level and showed us the true path for happiness. To be happy one need to restructure his inner self not interiors of the house. To be happy one have to come out his self made prison of his past guilt and have to forgive himself as well as the persons around him.
The film begins with two friends cum business partner Kushal (Parambrata Chatterjee) and Timir (Kaushik Ganguly), they both are very different in age and nature but they are very friendly with each other and work together as Bashtu and Fengshui consultant. They get an assignment from Arjun( Abir Chatterjee) to do a Bashtu check of his house in Darjeeling. Arjun is an ex-army officer who lives with his wife Banya(Raima Sen) and his widow sister Antara (Churny Ganguly). Arjun is very much frustrated and unhappy and dealing with lots of family problems specially after a road accident where he had a leg injury which caused him to left his job. Also Antara's husband and son died in the same incident. Arjun who don't believes in Bashtu but still want to try it as he wants to bring back happiness in her house at any cost. When Kushal and Timir reach Darjeeling they got introduced with every family member from Arjun's family. Also they found each one have their own share of secrets as well as guilt from there past. Even Kushal and Timir have their own set of disturbed past but unlike Arjun's family members they have come out of their past to give life a fresh start. Kushal gets surprise to meet Banya as they were connected with each other once upon a time. Will that past relationship between Kushal and Banya will have any impact on their present life? Will Kushal and Timir be able to bring back happiness in Arjun's house? That you have to watch in theater.
The strong point of the story is while watching the movie everyone will be able to connect with their own life to some extent as all of us have gone through some bad phase and regrets in our life and many of us want one magician who can bring happiness in our life.The lesson given in the movie will definitely help you to get the solution to your own problems. That's the magic of the story. The screenplay has been written so well that you will be engaged from the beginning till the end. The way it unfolds the past and present of each of the characters is really interesting. Specially the flashback track of Kushal and Banya has been merged very well in the screenplay. Here one thing needs to be mentioned that there is only five characters and mostly the movie has been shot with these five characters in few fixed location, still it never looks boring as the scenes are so well written and well enacted. Even the climax is very thought provoking, do we really need someone from outside to make us happy or it should come from within ourselves.
As a director Kaushik Ganguly gets full marks. He has done full justice to every department from extracting wonderful performance from his cast and crew to set up the story convincingly in the backdrop of Darjeeling. His perfection is visible in every minor detailing.
Among the actors all five has done brilliant job. Abir Chatterjee has played a character which is quite different from the characters he has played so far. His character is not a negative one but has grey shades. He is someone trying to portray himself very strong but is suffering inside out of guilt. Abir has perfectly portrayed the complex emotions of his on screen character Arjun. Not only on emotional ground rather also he has worked perfectly on his body language too as a person suffering from leg injury.
After a long time we see Parambrata Chatterjee doing something out the cliche roles. Here he has acted very well coming out of his typical mannerisms. Here he has got a chance to act in two different phases of a same character as the story goes back and forth showing the past and present of Kushal. Both the phases of the characters have different shades,the present Kushal is more confident composed Bashtu consultant but in the flashback story he is lesser matured and going through an emotional crisis. Parambrata has efficiently worked on the two different states of the character. His body language and screen presence shows the difference in Kushal's past and present.
Same goes for Raima Sen, she too has to enact two different phases of the character Banya. In the flashback sequences she is a helpless wife struggling hard to give support to his hospitalized husband. In the present situation Banya is a lonely housewife who suffers from her husband's negligence also she is a bereaved mother who is separated from her son. Raima has played both the parts brilliantly but we like her more as the lonely housewife Banya. Her inner pain and suffering has been well expressed with her eyes. It is one of her career best performance.
Churny Ganguly is a terrific actress. She has played a very complex character of Antara. Antara is a widow who is suffering deeply for her loss and is in mentally unstable situation but she pretends to be as normal as possible. Churny has done full justice to these moody character who can be harsh at one time and can be soft in the next minute. The mental instability of Antara is clearly visible in the body language and expressions of Churny Ganguly.
The last but not the least is director Kaushik Ganguly himself. The mystery is still unresolved Kaushik Ganguly is a better director or a better actor. We can only say he is a master of both. Here he has comparatively lesser screen time but every time he says anything it will bring laughter to your face. He has underplayed his character very well providing interesting comic relief. Watch him in the scene where Timir does a shootout duel with Arjun , he is too good in that scene.
Everyone in the technical crew has done good job. The film has been shot mostly in indoors but whenever given a chance cinematographer Gopi Bhagat has captured the scenic beauty of Darjeeling wonderfully. The editing has been done superbly by Subhajit Singha. The flashback and present scenes has been merged very well. The music has been composed by Indradeep Dasgupta and the songs are very melodious. Every song has been blended in the story very well so it adds an extra weight to the emotional moments of the film.
Overall Bastushaap is an engaging film with a superb performances and a solid message. Go and watch it to adjust the Bastu of your inner-self probably it will help you to have a better life.
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