Almost 30 years after Satyajit Ray launched a new school of children’s cinema with Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen, a new film is creating ripples in the world of Bengali cinema. Patalghar (literally, the underground chamber) combines a spy thriller, an alien invasion and ghostly apparitions to create what many viewers describe as the Bengali version of Harry Potter.Though the production is being billed as children’s fare, the producers believe it has ‘‘something for everyone’. In its fourth week in six cinemas across Kolkata, ‘‘the response is ever-improving’’, according to Arjun Gourisaria, one of the editors.Made on a budget of around Rs 1.5 crore, Patalghar is based on a story by well-known Bengali novelist Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay and revolves around the search for a ‘‘mysterious invention’’. Various characters, good, bad and extra-terrestrial, get involved in the search; their conflicting interests and approach towards the ‘‘invention’’ form the backdrop of the film.The invention in question is a musical device, which uses sound waves to put people and animals to sleep (shades of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone?). The story goes that the device was accidentally invented by an eccentric scientist, Aghor Sen (played by thespian Soumitra Chatterjee), 150 years ago in a village called Nischintapur. One of the first characters to join the search for this instrument is Vik, an exile from a planet called Nyapcha. He is joined by Dr Bhootnath Nandy, who has scientific interests, and Begum, the charismatic leader of an arms cartel who sends her General Tekka and goons to find the instrument. But the device is hidden away in Dr Sen’s secret underground laboratory, the Patalghar of the title. Kartik, the sole inheritor of the scientist’s house in Nischintapur, thus becomes the hunted as all the characters congregate on the village for a showdown.There are some deviations from the original story, but not enough to raise objections. ‘‘In fact, when Mukhopadhyay saw the film, he loved it,’’ says one of the film’s editors.Interestingly, Patalghar is director Abhijit Chaudhuri’s first feature film, though this mathematics graduate from Calcutta University has years of experience in advertising filmmaking. With him were FTII graduate Gourisaria and advertising executive Niti Sonee Gourisaria. The film has been invited to the Brussels festival of fantasy, thriller and sci-fi films, as also to the Cairo International Children’s Film Festival. At a time when Bengali cinema is enjoying a second coming, thanks to the likes of Subroto Sen and Rituparno Ghosh, this young trio foretells well for the future.
