Golpo Holeo Shotti (Bengali) / Good and scary

Music:Indradeep Dasgupta

Cast:Soham, Mimi, Sayoni, Rajatabha Dutta, Neel Mukherjee, Taju and others

By Shoma A. Chatterji

Ghost stories and horror themes seem to be the flavour of the season. Arundhati that released recently is now followed by Golpo Holeo Shotti which means “it is a story but it is true.’ Coming from Shree Venkatesh Films banner, both films are copyrighted Bengali versions of Southern hits. Interestingly, with bigger names, more lavish mounting and an ensemble cast, Arundhati was too loud, too bizarre and left much room for improvement, no thanks to the pre-release hype around the reincarnation drama. Golpo Holeo Shotti is several notches above Arundhati.
Golpo … is a ghost story that unfolds slowly within the fluffy-serious love story of a pizza delivery boy Rudra (Soham) and Anu (Mimi Chakraborty) who writes horror stories and researches for her novels. They are in a live-in relationship but there is no indication of their respective family backgrounds. When short of funds, Anu announces that she is pregnant and wants to get married but Rudra is not ready. One night, has to deliver a pizza at an address where the seductive tenant (Sayoni) turns out to be either dead or a ghost.
The script begins to drag its feet at the ghostly address but picks up suddenly after the interval where the ‘story’ and the ‘truth’ get jumbled up. Soon the pace picks up and builds up the suspense, minute by slow minute till we are waiting at the edge our seats to find out the truth. Songs are redundant in this kind of film and that is exactly what the songs do – pull down the pace and butt into the continuity of the scenario. Mimi is charm and naughtiness personified but it is all Soham after a point of time.
With their meagre sources of income, how do Rudra and Anu live in such a beautifully appointed apartment without any visible financial support? Soham is very good in a layered role but he desperately needs to shred some kilos on a treadmill. Mimi is natural and looks attractive in every frame. Sayoni hardly talks and instills real fear in the audience with those scary eyes but this is dragged overmuch. The sound design is good but not as good as one expects in a horror-thriller. But all said and done, one must say that after a long time, Golpo Holeo Shotti is worth the gate money but that’s it, no more.