Baishe Srabon

Story,script and direction: Srijit Mukherjee

Cast: Prosenjit,Goutam Ghose,Parambrata Chatterjee,Rajesh Sharma and Raima Sen.

The Kolkata police is tearing its hair off trying to solve the mystery of the stoneman killings. The killer leaves a Bengali poem written in an inconsistent hand as ‘signature.’ Nibaran Chakraborty (Gautam Ghose),an eccentric poet of the Hungryalist Movement of Bengali poetry notorious for its anti-Establishment stance,calls up ‘Rabindranath’ about the proofs of his book. He wanders across the narrow bylanes,sits on a lonely parapet in the middle of the night and recites his own poetry to himself. Unwittingly,he makes himself a hard target for the police.

Probir Roy Choudhury (Prosenjeet) is a once-decorated,high-ranking police officer who was thrown out of the force on grounds of insanity for torturing prisoners in custody. He sits in his sprawling ancestral house,guzzles whisky,smokes cigars and throws choice invectives at no one in particular. His one-time colleague (Rajesh Sharma) seeks his help in the unsolved case. Abhi (Parambrato Chatterjee),a young police officer in charge of the case,has a live-in partner Amrita (Raima Sen),an investigative television journalist who cannot decide between the two men in her life,the other being her childhood playmate and colleague (Abir Chatterjee). The romance has some bits of sleazy bedroom scenes high on choreography and orchestration but low on content and context. A beautiful rain song written and musically scored by Anupam Roy spans the love-triangle. Amrita is not serious about her job because she is busy flirting with the two men. The suspense of the serial killings would have stood well on its own without the love story.

Music does nothing to Baishe Srabon. At times the background score is so loud that it overlaps the dialogue. The songs are mood-centric and focussed on fluid relations,so they do not take the story forward.

The editing suffers. The focus on the Hungryalist Poetry Movement is too intellectual for the mainstream audience that neither knows nor is interested about it in a film. But they still remain hooked because of Probir’s colourful vocabulary that is a great hit with them.

The acting is outstanding. Credit goes to the director for his command over a cast that is a coup in itself. Prosenjit’s mind-blowing performance is no surprise. Parambrato’s serious Abhi is a wonder to watch while Abir Chatterjee throws up a delightfully candid portrayal. Raima,the sole eye-candy,looks sexy and beautiful. Rajesh Sharma delivers a good performance. June Mallya,in a the cameo,is touching. But it is Gautam Ghose’s portrayal of the eccentric poet that is amazing.

Soumik Haldar’s cinematography is a masterpiece in layered use of the camera. But its hurtling chases down the narrow lanes at night sometimes adds to the general confusion. The art direction offers a model lesson to students of cinema. So,what is lacking? The suspense is not gripping at all because (a) the false trail is too transparent,(b) the real killer is too intelligent to be trapped by the police and (c) he can be caught only when and if he gives himself away,which he does. Not a good reflection on the Kolkata police!

Ratings: One star for the entire cast,one for the direction and one for the cinematography.