Cha-e Chuti

 

There is a  whiff of a breeze in Bengali Cinema. Apart from the aping of Masala Bollywood Films, occasionally a bubble floats up which is obviously commercial but different. The reason is because of a debutant director Aniket who has made Cha-E Chuti based on a true story…

A serial making unit gets a forced break when a technician accidentally dies on their sets. Silajit-Sonali-Kunal-Anjana-Dona-Rudranil-Locket-Kharaj-Rajesh and director Milan (all playing under their real names!!), forget the tragedy and under guidance of Sabyasachi(Benuda) make their way to Mehulpur –on-Sea in Orissa. Making the trip with them is Debshankar. Relationships are on the air and actors must obviously indulge in alcohol as that is their projected customary obsession.

Locket and Silajit are divorced from each other because Locket is a lesbian. Silajit is developing a relationship with Sonali and is on the verge of marrying her. Locket eyes new actress Dona who is sleeping with Rudranil in the hope of getting a film role. Anjana is disgusted with her drunken artist husband Debshankar and is on the verge of leaving him and moving in with Kunal. Kharaj is bent on enjoying his freedom from his domineering wife while Rajesh has come to gamble and drink.

As these relationships are developing, Kunal slaps the hotel caretaker and he falls down and dies. The actors decide to wipe out all evidence and dump the body onto the beach. The Police then step in and Silajit’s mobile is found near the body. The relationships crack under the tension. Dona turns away from Rudranil and into Locket’s arms. The famous and much publicised Locket-Dona liplock takes place.

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Anjana decides to avoid Kunal who could possibly land in jail as it was he who had delivered the blow. She turns to her husband, specially on hearing that he is going to Germany on a scholarship. She says that she had disliked coming here with these actors, and that she would give up films. Kunal feels he has lost Anjana. Silajit wants to tell the truth to the police but is stopped by the rest. Sonali thinks that such an act would land her in jail because she was the one who had wiped the floor clean of blood. Silajit finds that Sonali wants to avoid him. Kharaj and Rudranil are depressed at the prospect of the police and legal hassles. The Police O.C. interrogates them mercilessly.

They call Benuda desperately. Debshankar learns that it was Anjana’s idea  to come on the trip. Sabyasachi comes in and finally reveals all. The caretaker, Police O.C., Rajesh are all in the plot to play a joke on them.   There has actually been no murder. The caretaker is alive. Relationships  reverse once again. They depart as they had come—singing merrily. Sabyasachi proclaims that he has driven 29 years without an accident. Suddenly a body drops on them shattering the windscreen of their car. Is this now real or a joke???

The film suffered hugely when Kunal Mitra unfortunately died midway. However he had kept all his clothes used in the shooting, in a separate suitcase. Aniket managed to get a non film guy to fill in as a double. He had to resort to computer graphics to put the finishing touches. Srikanta Acharya was roped in to do the voice over. The compromises made to finish the film in Kunal’s absence are obvious.

Leaving this aside—the film’s main strength  were its actors who performed well. Kharaj was outstanding and was ably accompanied by Rudranil. Aniket showed glimpses of his potential by using varied  angles, specially the crane shots. His direction was crisp and focussed. The film showed signs of drifting occasionally—specially the Rabindrasangeet sequences. When will Bengali films do away with irrelevant songs which mar the pace of the film? The shots of the sea were very artificial, and there were too many dining hall sequences to show Kharaj’s gluttony. The film was almost  two and a half hour long and could easily have been trimmed down by a good half hour.

The songs were in tune with the current practices of modifying old Bengali film hits. None of them were impressive. What was noticeable was some very competent editing. Badal Sirkar’s work as DOP was commendable as he got some good frames and angles. The colours were well blended.  Aniket also realised that some sequences were tedious and out of tune with the pace of the film. He intelligently , with his DOP used innovative angles and crane speed to overcome that.

Watching it at Nandan was  right, with the ticket prices at Rs.70.

 

Still at the very best , the film is a well made soft drink, which after the initial fizz, leaves little behind. It is difficult to recommend it wholeheartedly, but probably it is worth the effort to support these new directors who are trying to rejuvenate content based Bengali films.