With a compelling story loosely based on a real-life tragedy involving the death of a fresher due to ragging by his college seniors, the film Hok Kolorob is expected to reopen old wounds and rekindle conversations about abuse, accountability and a flawed and broken system that is powerless to protect those under its care.
Hok Kolorob’s trailer, which dropped recently, highlights that its plot will revolve around a massive protest against authority by students, a fact that is also underscored by the title of the film. The nature and cause of the protest is, however, left ambiguous in the trailer — it is not evident whether the students are protesting the crime and are thus demanding safety and justice; whether they are protesting against the police and the college administration for targeting students, or whether they are lashing out against police inaction and atrocities during the investigation process.
Although its teaser had hinted at controversial elements that put the film at risk of being branded a propaganda film, its trailer has put such unreasonable fears at rest. Although it does not offer any new details about the plot apart from what was already revealed by the teaser, the trailer offers a clearer picture of the intent of the film — that it seeks to find the truth behind the so-called accident and bring to justice those responsible for it. More importantly, it does not seek to label all students of the institution as co-conspirators of the crime, but only a particular, notorious group, who are singled out as suspects. Hok Kolorob is hence expected to be an anti-ragging film where the antagonists are some hostel boarders who engage in extreme, offensive and violent forms of ragging and bullying.
Starring Saswata Chatterjee as the tough, gritty investigating officer Khudiram Chaki, the core action of the film hinges on the conflicts, allegations and counter-allegations between student leaders and Chaki and his team. Giving off sparks of his popular character Animesh Dutta of Proloy fame, Chaki’s sarcasm and scornful humour promise to provide the film with some of its lighter moments in this film which is predicted to contain enough violent and disturbing scenes. As always, Saswata appears to nail his role as the police officer. Delivering a seasoned and balanced act, he exhibits aggression and emotion where needed and reins in his performance where necessary.
The performances of John Bhattacharya and Samiul Alam as student leaders are pitch-perfect; their irreverent, provocative words and actions expressing absolute disregard and contempt for authority, underline the downside of unrestricted youth power. An interesting aspect of the trailer is that though it shows that violence and corruption are part and parcel of student politics, it attempts to portray the police force as honest, enterprising and competent. However, it also acknowledges that the latter’s reputation has taken a beating as far as ordinary citizens are concerned.
Hok Kolorob’s background music suggests a tense, fast-paced narrative with lots of action and suspense and reinforces the mood of protest and violence in the film. Armed with a subject that has immense contemporary relevance, what remains to be seen is whether the storytelling of Hok Kolorob adds more depth to the narrative. What is more important is how truthfully the film will reflect the lived reality of students and connect with the young generation of audiences at large.
Directed by Raj Chakraborty and also starring Partho Bhowmik, Pushan Dasgupta, Sreya Bhattacharyya and Om Sahani in pivotal roles, Hok Kolorob hits theatres today.