2024 film by Soukarya Ghosal
Bhootpori () is a Bengali language Indian horror fantasy film written and directed by Soukarya Ghosal, starring Jaya Ahsan, Ritwick Chakraborty, Shantilal Mukherjee, Sudipta Chakraborty and introducing Bishantak Mukherjee. The story revolves around a lonely ghost who is waiting for her emancipation with a belief that humans become ghosts to transform into fairies.
Bhootpori is based on the idea of reincarnation which is very much celebrated in Indian popular culture and spiritual texts. The film depicts death not as an end of a life cycle but an intermediate stage of becoming an angel from the mortal of human life. The film was an official selection for Indian Panorama at the 55th International Film Festival of India in Goa 2024.
Plot.
The story is based on the life and afterlife of Bonolata who was killed by a priest before she turned into Bhootpori. During the days of her mortal life Bonolata accidentally gets to know about the secret of child sacrifice which Kalothakur, the priest was performing for quite a longtime in her village. So before she could unravel the dark truth she is murdered to keep the secret intact.
Since Bonolata was attacked from the back so she couldn’t recognise the murderer. Soon after dying Bonolata sees a dream where she levitates as a light feather but suddenly wakes as a ghost keeping the dream unfinished.From then she remains sad and lonely in the world of death till a little boy named Shurjo comes to help her after seventy springs. On their first encounter both ghost and the boy get intrigued and suspective towards each other as both of them could see, feel and touch each other just like normal human beings, which they are not suppose to.
Incidentally Shurjo is also the great grandson of Kalothakur who suffers from somnambulism and is brought to the village away from city bustles by his parents to have a change of air. After getting to know about Bonolata’s unfinished dream he reveals that he repeatedly sees the same dream which Bonolata saw when fell asleep. Bonolata also informs Shurjo only if she could sleep again and sees the dream then she would turn into an angel, freed from the bandages of the mudane world of death. In course of chasing the mystery of the village and Kalothakur, Shurjo meets a village thief, Makhon who tells him about a secret underground room which has all the answers.
After a lot of hard work Shurjo finally reaches there and finds a notation of ancient lullaby which makes ghost fall asleep. With that magical notation Shurjo finally makes Bonolata asleep and turns her into an angel.
Soundtrack.
The Music of the film is composed by Nabarun Bose. The sound design and mixing are done by Anindit Roy and Adeep Singh Manki. The film has one song originally written and composed by Sri Ramprasad Sen. Nabarun Bose rearranged and programmed the song which is sung by Rajarshi Burman in the film. The soundtrack was released by Surinder Films.
Reception.
The film was released on 9 February 2024 in India and received positive critical reviews. The Times of India gives 3.5 Critics rating out of 5. Bhootpori ran for uninterrupted 75 days in theatres.
The film was an official selection for Indian Panorama at the 55th International Film Festival of India, Goa 2024 where it was screened at Inox Panaji, Old GMC building on 25 November 2024.
References.
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