Kahaani’s Saswata Chatterjee stars in two different roles.
By Tathagata Mitra
BANGALORE: Sandip Ray, son of the Academy Award winning Satyajit Ray, has released Chaar, an anthology film of Bengali classics, two of which are short stories written by his father.
Chaar, as the name suggests, consists four short segments, all of which explore some extraordinary aspects in the lives of ordinary people. The four segments are named Bateswarer Abodan (Bateswar’s contribution) by Parasuram, Porikkha (Test) by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, Kagtarua (Scarecrow) and Dui Bondhu (Two friends) by Satyajit Ray.
Chaar, in its four segments, has a galore of acclaimed Bengali stage and film actors who are part of an ensemble cast. The film stars Kahaani’s Saswata Chatterjee as two different characters in two different segments, Paran Bandopadhyay, Abir Chatterjee, Koel Mallick, Sreelekha Mitra, Sudipta Chakraborty, and Pijush Ganguly.
The film has been received well by critics. It is not altogether surprising when you take some of the best actors in an industry and throw them in into one single movie.
Madhusree Ghosh of The Times of India writes, “The director, with considerable help from cinematographer Sirsha Ray, has been successful in retaining the essence of all these literary masterpieces. And that is quite an achievement, considering the fact that all the authors had written about a world we no longer live in.” She adds, “The cast has worked together to create magic. If Paran Bandopadhyay was born in Hollywood, he would’ve got himself at least a couple of Academy Awards by now. He has different and accurate expressions for every situation and has the capacity to light up every scene he is in. Saswata Chatterjee is the only actor Sandip Ray has cast in two stories and, as usual, he never ever disappoints.”
This is not the first time Sandip has made an anthology film. Although usually immersed with his father’s thriller series Feluda, Sandip took time out to make Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy in 2012, an anthology film of Bengali short stories of horror. Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy had three segments: Bhoot Bhabishyat (The past and the present) by Sharadindu, Anathbabur Bhoy (Anathbabu’s fear) and Brown Saheber Bari (Lord Brown’s Abode) by Satyajit Ray. The film opened to a good response. Critics were in praise of Paran and Saswata’s performances.
Chaar released in theaters on June 13 and is doing well at the box office.