Review of Bengali Movie #Khwato

Kamaleshwar Mukherjee’s #Khwato is definitely one bold and brave film hardly ever made in Bengali cinema, not just because of the erotic scenes but because of creating bold leading characters that are bold enough to accept their physical desires. But if we consider it as an erotic thriller then it must be said it is erotic but not thrilling that much.

The story begins on an interesting note when a young couple Rishav (Ronodeep) and Sohag(Tridha) decides to spend a long holiday in a beach side resort to have some fun moments together. All of a sudden they meet a suspicious stranger who lives alone in a

cottage on the beach. Soon they discover the stranger is none other than yester years famous author Nirbed Lahiri(Prasenjit Chatterjee) who is living life alone for last twenty years, leaving the name and fame, away from the social circuit. Sohag is a die-hard fan of Nirbed and on her insistence Rishav too agrees to take the hospitality of Nirbed. Obviously Sohag and Rishav have too many questions about Nirbed’s self banishment and to answer that Nirbed tell them the story of his last novel “Khwato” which is actually an autobiography of his life and is still incomplete. From then starts the flashback story of the author Nirbed Lahiri who is open to flirt with any lady even in front of his wife Srijeeta (Raima Sen). One day Nirbed meets Antara (Paoli Dam) the wife of Animesh (Rahul Banerjee), who is a friend of Srijeeta. Nirbed feels attracted physically as well as mentally with Antara from the first visit and soon he gets a chance to share bed with Antara in return of the favour he did for Animesh. Gradually it turns into a love lust relationship with active participation from both Nirbed and Antara.

But what is the future of this extra marital relationship and what will happen if their spouses come to know about this. For that you have to watch the film.

Although it begin with an interesting note with a passionate story of an author and his muse but  soon it turns into a regular story of extra marital affair. The twist in the end too does not go well with the mood of the film.

As a director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee has done better work earlier. This time he has chosen a bold subject and he is not shy to present it in bold way, but he should have concentrate more on the story.

Probably it is the boldest character played by Prasenjit Chatterjee in his whole career. He has never seen doing so much steamy scenes on screen and he is confident enough to do

those scenes. He has two different looks in this film one in his flashback where he is in his late 30s, a celebrity author and another one in his late 50s where he is living a lonely life. Like his all recent films here too he has taken good care of his looks, specially the aged look, he looks really amazing in that.  He has played both the parts with honesty. It is one character which can be easily identified as grey or even negative as we are not habituated to see a hero who is so much open about his physical needs. Credit must be given to Prasenjit Chatterjee, for taking the risk to play such a character.

Paoli Dam is no doubt a wonderful actress who has emoted very well in the complex character of Antara. The dilemma of her character to choose between responsibilities and desires has been clearly portrayed by Paoli. If we talk about the bold scenes those are not tough for Paoli anymore, she has matured a lot doing erotic scenes, but when she is not doing those scenes she has proved her acting abilities too. Watch out her in her last scene, she is just too good in that.

Sadly Raima Sen has been sidelined with a half baked character of the wife of author Nirbed Lahiri. Apart from one scene where she has a confrontation with her husband she has nothing much to do apart from being a part of a group. Rahul Banerjee has make his presence felt as a happy go lucky Animesh. Tridha has added enough glamour with her revealing clothes. Ronodeep is good in a supporting role.

The technical team has done good job. The production design of early 90’s Kolkata is efficient. Camerawork has been done quite well, the sea beaches have been captured really well. The background score and sound design is good enough to add the required amount of drama.

Overall #Khwato is a bold film with bold characters who can challenge social moralities. No matter the lead characters are white, black or grey but they are not fake, they have real human desires. There is love, lust, passion, betrayal which could have taken it to some another level but sadly it remains just an ordinary extra marital story only. Watch it just too see the performances of the lead pair do not expect anything more.