Antim Shwash Sundor

It is Subrat Dutta as Prem who holds this bad film together and persuades the audience not to walk out.

Can a philosophers stone turn everything into gold? Is life a journey where ones achievements are measured in terms of material prosperity? These are some questions first-time director Kris Allen promised to explore in Antim Shwash Sundor (Last Breath Beautiful.) But if you are wondering if they have been answered,then the reply is no.

Prem Sengupta (Subrat Dutta)s otherwise placid life is punctured by his extremely dissatisfied wife Vibha (Indrani Haldar) who wants to be rich at any price. A sudden discovery of a pendant with magical powers on a deserted beach changes Prems life. He becomes a millionaire overnight and his wife is very happy though their daughter is not.

His values change almost overnight and we see him change from a hardworking and honest man to a shrewd businessman who uses every corrupt trick to get his job done. His marriage is also affected. Vibha becomes promiscuous and the daughter gets gang-raped by Prems rivals. Prem wakes up as if from a nightmare,throws away the pendant and walks back to the beach where he found it first. He sits on the sands,his back to the camera,awaiting his death. It is the price he must pay for the affluence he attained.

The story is loosely inspired by W.W. Jacobs famous short story The Monkeys Paw. The bottomline is – everything in life comes with a price. But Kris Alin does not explore the magic. He uses the magic as a plea to add as many scenes,situations and incidents of crude sex and senseless titillation as he can.

The film demonstrates that all men and women among the rich,the famous and the powerful,are adulterous,corrupt and deceitful. They are evil enough to plan a gang-rape of a little girl as their revenge or take Prems wife to bed -consensually – and then tell him over the phone about it.

The treatment and approach is a sad reflection of the directors ideas about people,never mind how rich they are or how they have come by those riches. This complete lack of faith in the goodness of human beings is reflected in the film.

Prem and Vibhas casual attitude to little Aratis treatment and counselling after the initial breakdown is shocking. The characterisations are mostly negative and the performances match this negativity. It is a pity that very good actors have had to play characters that offer no challenge.

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Purbayan Mukherjee,who makes his debut as music director,has covered several genres of music through the songs. But lack of imagination in picturisations has ruined them all except Rinijhini sung by children with a little girl as the lead. Two more numbers – Satrangi and Rasiyaan sung by Ustad Rashid Khan are mindblowing but their use,placing and volume have ruined the rendering. The cinematography captures the width of the beach,its colours and richness well. The lighting on Prems face in close-up to register the change in his values is imaginative. But it is Subrat Dutta as Prem who holds this bad film together and persuades the audience not to walk out. He shoulders the film single-handedly and delivers an unforgettable performance.

Rating The film deserves one star for the music and one star go to Subrat.