Rajlokhi O Srikanto (2019)

Rajlokhi O Srikanto: Directed by Pradipta Bhattacharyya. With Ritwick Chakraborty, Rahul Banerjee, Aparajita Ghosh Das, Jyotika Jyoti. This film is partially inspired by the first volume of renowned Bengali author Sarat Chandra Chattapadhyay’s seminal novel Srikanto. On an idyllic retreat sponsored by an influential friend, Srikanto, the drifter-protagonist, comes across the beautiful Rajlokhi, his friend’s mistress. The chance encounter suddenly jettisons them into a past they had both long left behind as well as memories of people they had long forgotten. He is a man who has battled complex psychological issues after being subject to a traumatic incident as a child; she is a woman who has been betrayed by and exploited repeatedly by men like her father and her husband. Faced with mortal peril and impossible odds, the two are forced to make choices with potentially life-altering consequences. Part love story, part character study of protagonists who wish to break free of the expectations of society, Rajlokhi O Srikanto is a searing study of how ideas of love, masculinity and violence have always been incredibly entangled across generations.

“Pradipta bhattacharyau0026#39;s works always elude me. Be it his short films or u0026quot;bakita byaktigotou0026quot; the man always steal your attention even after you are done seeing the movie. This is not an exception. The portrayal of rural Bengal and the sharp contrast it has with the urban one goes with the theme of the movie. Srikanto is a famous character of Bengali literature. So making a movie on that character was always risky. But the director couldnu0026#39;t have done a better job.”