bhooter bhabishyat: quite bright

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File:Bhooter Bhabishyat.jpg

Racy, pacy and speedy, that's the first three words that comes to my mind, with this unusual film, Bhooter Bhabishyat. Unusual, as it seems, as after Ray (Satyajit) nobody seriously explored the spooky genre in the same way as he did. Hollywood's passion and strong liking towards these genres have had a series of fun, seriously spooky and psychotic thrillers. In India, the Ramsay's were the pioneers in Hindi cinema, but they seemed to swing between something called an attempted horror to a soft sleazy thriller, often tilting on the latter's side.
Well let's come back to Bhooter Bhabishyat. Anik Dutta seems firmly in control from start to finish. There is never a moment to loose and a moment to dwell on. You miss it and you are blinked. That is where I thought  the pace of the film seems to be caught in a warp. One would have loved to soak in "moments" more often. For example, a character like Bhutoriya the developer (Mir in his characteristic elements), we would have loved to have seen more of him, similarly, characters like Kadalibala and Pablo, would have done more justice with more screen space. In that sense I would not have been offended with a little longer version of the film. It seemed the build up was happening so well (superb narration through Biplab Da- Sabyasachi Chakrabarty) and as it was just about building up, it suddenly went very tame. Sad! Brilliant cameos by Kharaj and  Saswata similarly left you asking for more. Param seemed wasted, but he is riding on Kahaani's success and should generate footfalls!
But moments of glory, the opening scene of Sreelekha actually set the pace, which had very strong overlays, even though it seemed mundane, the conversations of Sumit Samaddar with the various characters in the house are simply superb. This gets even more quadrupedal with Paran Bandhopadhyya's effortless and made for him role. The limericks (reminded one of Ray's classic- Hirok Rajar Deshe) were good on several occasions and the strong message of growing urbanisation  - crushing and almost stomping on the cultures and traditions of the past came out subtly (even though one would have liked it to be more overt though).
Anik Dutta's debut is confident and his inspiration, Manik Da (Satyajit Ray) is intermittently laced across the film (Parambrata's character's ring tone, the overall spooky genre and occasional reference to Manik Da's approach to film making and his quotes).
Bhooter Bhabishyat's music is good but not great. I wish Anik could have invested a little more time on that. His mentor's classic,  Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne actually had music as the basic premise on which the whole films was based and is often cited as a musical. 
Bhooter Bhabishyat remains a must see for a first time, and it does give me a reason to fall in love with the classic Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne once again! Sorry, Anik I hope you don't hold me against that. 
     

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