Cast members Saswata Chatterjee and Tota Roy Chowdhury chill out with director Sandip Ray at the post-premiere party of Hit-list in Lake Club. “It was great working with Babuda (Sandip) again after so many years,” said Saswata. “Working with so many veteran actors in Hit-list was a great learning experience for me,” added Tota

Rituparno Ghosh catches up with Sabyasachi and Mithu Chakraborty. “Koel was extremely good! I also liked Saswata, Sundarda (Dhritiman Chaterji) and Shaheb (Chatterjee). These four have impressed me the most,” said Sabyasachi

“I did the film only because of Babuda (Sandip Ray). I liked Koel’s performance a lot. She did both the glamorous and the intense scenes with elan,” said Babul Supriyo, with Hit-list producer Mou Roy Chowdhury by his side

“I couldn’t catch the premiere as I was busy shooting for an ad film, but I made it to the party which I enjoyed. I plan to watch Hit-list soon,” said Paoli Dam at Lake Club

Agnimitra Paul and Locket Chatterjee after the screening. “I liked Hit-list very much. Koel looked very different from her other films. Dhritimanda was great! So was Shaheb,” said Locket

Sudipta Chakraborty rushed back from Chennai to attend the Hit-list premiere. “It was such a wonderful, comfortable unit. We had great fun while shooting!” said Sudipta

The party spotlight was on Hit-list heroine Koel Mullick. “I am getting a lot of positive feedback and I hope the film does really well. I am keeping my fingers crossed!” said Koel.Pictures by Aranya Sen

Also spotted...

Ranjit Mullick

Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti

Indrani Dutta

Arindam Sil

Mir

After a long time, I got to see a good Bengali film. I was disappointed after watching Babuda’s (Sandip) last few films. So I was a bit apprehensive when I came to see Hit-list. His Fatikchand is a favourite film of mine and Hit-list comes right next. So long I have felt that the Satyajit Ray influence was very strong on Babuda when he made the Feluda films. I also felt he was very cautious, which made his films somewhat bland. But with Hit-list Babuda has come into his own. Here is a fresh, confident director with an independent approach and no baggage of history.

Hit-list has internalised the mainstream film formula for a Bengali audience, which is very commendable. I loved the simplicity and candid innocence of the film. The scripting is beautiful and the dialogues are smart. And I loved the fact that Babuda didn’t sacrifice basic human emotions in order to make a thriller.

I don’t like the idea of being on the edge of my seat all the time when I am watching a thriller. Maybe I liked Hit-list more because it doesn’t toe this usual line.... The cinematic build-up is brilliant. The first murder sequence is almost Hitchcockian. The mis-en-scene, shot-taking, drama… everything about this sequence is just great. The drama heightens and then slackens, only to pick up pace again. There’s a dash of glamour too, which was never there in Babuda’s earlier films. You have the various sides of human relations and even sexual intimacy, which comes at just the right place without being outrageous.

We find the sleuth, Prabhatbabu (Dhritiman Chaterji), almost becoming Feluda, with Saswata doing a Topshe. But even then there is a major difference. In the Ray genre of thriller, the bad guy is always punished and the detective is the one who does that. Also, the detective never kills anyone.

Hit-list is a departure from that. Here, the protagonist, who also happens to be the film’s heroine, is the killer and the sleuth allows her to go free, realising that hers is a crime of passion. Feluda would never do such a thing. Both Prabhatbabu and Feluda are righteous in their own ways, but Prabhatbabu emerges a humanist and this is what has touched me. It is a celebration of humanity over conventional morality, and it is a big victory for Babuda too.

All the actors have done very well. I specially liked Shaheb, Tota, Sudipta, Saswata, Subhrajit (Dutta), Mithu and Dipankarda (Dey), though I didn’t like Koel’s performance as much. But she was looking very good.

 

Pictures by Aranya Sen