Rohit Roy with Anusmriti Sarkar at the premiere of Bhorer Alo at Priya cinema on Friday

Directed by: Prabhat Roy

Starring: Rituparna Sengupta, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Rohit Roy, Anusmriti Sarkar

Prabhat Roy’s Bhorer Alo belongs in the family-drama space he has made his own. Though the beginning is slow and drags for some time, things get spiced up post-interval with quite a few twists, thrilling moments and pacy editing.

The story begins with Arunava’s (Priyanshu) teenaged daughter Rinka (Anusmriti) learning of a family secret long guarded by her father.

Forced to talk, Arunava goes into flashback mode to the time when he first met Srimati (Rituparna), a classical dancer and the sole breadearner in a family consisting of an ailing father and a younger sister, Payel (Anusmriti in a double role). She falls for a playboy rock star, Subhankar (Rohit), who tries to seduce her but Srimati manages to wriggle out of his clutches, aided by Arunava.

Srimati and Arunava fall in love, get married and become parents to Rinka. But their happiness is short-lived as Subhankar re-enters the scene. This time, it’s Srimati’s sister Payel who has the hots for him and decides to marry Subhankar against her family’s wishes. So Srimati plots to kill Subhankar and save her sister. Pity she didn’t know that Subhankar was a reformed man!

Rituparna leads the pack with a creditable act of a distraught and over-possessive elder sister. Tolly debutante Anusmriti holds her own in her double role as teenagers separated by 25 years. Though Priyanshu looks good as the restrained and caring husband, his and Rohit Roy’s accented Bengali is a strain on the ear.

Composer Jeet Gannguli’s Give me freedom and Koro Bangalir joygaan are quite peppy though they don’t rank among his best.