Chotushkone

I don’t think if this can be called a meta-movie. It is something different. And special. This is not your usual “anthology”. This is a story of 4 directors, setting out to 4 short films revolving around the theme “death”, given to them by the mysterious producer. If you find this baseline to be interesting, wait till you watch the film. It is an enthralling experience from start to finish. Srijit Mukherjee, for my eyes, is a master story-teller. He weaves magic in the form entertaining stories.

The film touches multiple genres, with a brilliant narrative structure. The narration is easily the best among Indian films in the past year. The skips, the cuts, time lapses, the transitions between real and reel are a pure treat to watch.

For example, there is a scene where a director is narrating his story, and we are cut to a frame where the lead character is featured in the middle of a room. The director is seen to be placing articles in the room, apparently being in the process of production design or “art direction”. He is then interrupted by another director who is listening to the story, and the visual of the director inside his “character’s” room stops what he’s doing, turns around and answers the question. Well, that just took the candidness of the film to another level! There are many more unconventional moments such as this which are bound to make you fall in love with Srijit the audacious story-teller .

There is this funeral post-climax, and I honestly feel it was one brilliant piece in this big jigsaw puzzle. There is no “rain” at the funeral and no “dark” color-grading. Just simple and straight-forward stuff, no cliches. And it also evokes few laughs, you’ll know when you watch it.

Things aren’t complicated, neither are they superficial. There are many underlying themes like retribution and death, which are put forth in the most inventive ways possible. And then there’s the social commentary as well. I leave it to you to figure out where it is p...