The teaser for 'Bhuto'Purbo, an upcoming Bengali horror anthology film inspired by classic literary works by Rabindranath Tagore, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay and Manoj Sen, was dropped by production banner IndoShree this week.
Directed by Kakoli Ghosh and Avinab Mukherjee, the film brings together three short stories — Tagore’s Monihara, Bandyopadhyay’s Taranath Tantrik, and Sen’s Shikar — set against the backdrop of late 1960s Bengal.
The narrative framework features two strangers, Neelkantha and Shashidhar, who arrive at the house of writer Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay on a rainy evening. What follows is a series of conversations among the three men, each leading into a different story.
The first segment, Monihara, revolves around Phani Bhushan Saha, a businessman, and his wife, whose attachment to jewellery leads to an unsettling end. The story is adapted from Tagore’s well-known short story of the same name.
In Taranath Tantrik, the film focuses on the character of Matu Pagli, a figure from Bibhutibhushan’s writings. The segment explores elements of mysticism and occultism, with references to spiritual initiation and withdrawal from domestic life.
The third segment, Shikar, follows Purnendu, an educated young man who becomes involved in the criminal underworld in the years following the Indo-China war. The story traces his descent into a world marked by both crime and the supernatural.
The three stories are presented as distinct narratives but are linked through a common thematic thread, which is revealed in the final segment of the film.
The film’s cast includes Rupanjana Mitra, Sandipta Sen, Suhotra Mukhopadhyay, Satyam Bhattacharya, Saptarshi Maulik, and Amrita Chattopadhyay.
Monihara has been adapted for the big screen in the past, most notably by Satyajit Ray in his anthology film Teen Kanya. Taranath Tantrik, too, has been adapted for television and web series.