Handcuff

The title Handcuff lends itself metaphorically to the handcuffs a criminal is made to wear when dragged to prison. This is never shown in the film. The title is also suggested in a literal sense when Shikha joins the hands of Madhusudan and Pooja in ‘eternal imprisonment’. Shikha (Rituparna Sengupta),a criminal lawyer and her husband Deep Chatterjee (Samrat Mukherjee),arrive at a small town when Deep takes over as OIC at the local police station. As soon as they arrive,Deep rescues a young Muslim girl from being molested by local goons headed by the local MP Monishankar Panda (Rajatava Dutta)’s son who promises vengeance before being chased away. Shikha is shocked to find Madhusudan Mullick (Sameer Aftab),the brilliant student she had decided to marry,reduced to a mafia don hired by local politicians including Panda. When Deep turns suspicious,Shikha says that she is no longer interested in Madhusudan except in an investigative way. Madhusudan relates how he was tricked by Shikha’s father (Bodhisattva Majumdar) and placed behind bars that landed him into this world of crime.

Handcuff gives Rituparna very little courtroom space. Sameer Aftab,an import from Mumbai whose voice had to be dubbed,is a very handsome young man with chocolate looks that suits the role of a misfit mafia don ably. But his performance is stiff,self-conscious and marred by bad dubbing. Samrat is a good actor and the film gives him ample scope to showcase his talents. But he grimaces a bit too much. Rajatava is really good as the MLA where he mixes a lot of fun with villainy,especially when he joins in an item number and makes us laugh in a film that has little scope for amusement.

Madhusudan is a do-gooder of the oppressed and the humiliated. He rescues Pooja,a young girl,from being trafficked into the local red-light area by her own maternal uncle. With Madhusudan’s help,she joins the old Muslim who runs a school for street children after his family was slaughtered in a communal onslaught. She also joins a television channel as news reader. The rest of the film is about how Deep and Madhusudan join hands to demolish the two local politicians Panda and his political rival,evil-doing peer MLA Srikumar Jadhav (Biplab Chatterjee) and put them behind bars. Shikha defends the Muslim girl’s lover from imprisonment when he is falsely accused of having murdered his fiancée. Pooja is united with Madhusudan and everything ends happily ever after.

Too many songs work as needless interruptions except for a sad number lip-synched by Madhusudan which is good and is placed appropriately within the film. The action scenes are a mix of expertise and amateurishness and could have done better with more rehearsals.

Verdict: **

The film deserves one star for the plot with its twists and turns and one for the acting,mainly of Rajatava and Rituparna.