A horror comedy about Dracula’s love-struck assistant. A gripping murder mystery. A mythological romance based on Kalidasa’s play. A Kolkata-set romantic comedy. There’s a lot on offer at the cinemas this Poila Boisakh weekend. Here’s a look at Hindi, English and Bengali films hitting the theatres today.
Renfield (English)
Directed by: Chris McKay
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Nicholas Hoult and Awkwafina
Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), the long-suffering aide to Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage), does the bidding for his narcissistic boss but wants to break free from his servitude. He falls in love with Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), a cop working for the New Orleans Police Department, and wants to begin his life afresh. However, Dracula isn’t willing to let his assistant attain freedom so easily.
Chhipkali (Hindi)
Directed by: Koushik Kar
Cast: Yashpal Sharma, Yogesh Bhardwaj and Tannistha Biswas
Chhipkali is a psychological thriller based on the novel Chhayajapon, written by Binod Ghoshal. The film revolves around a writer (Yashpal Sharma) who becomes a suspect in a murder case after a person is killed in the exact same way described in his thriller novel. During the course of investigation, a detective (Yogesh Bhardwaj) uncovers some shocking truths.
Shaakuntalam (Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada)
Directed by: Gunasekhar
Cast: Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Dev Mohan, Mohan Babu, Madhoo and Jisshu Sengupta
Based on Kalidasa’s play Abhijnanasakuntalam, Shaakuntalam revolves around Shakuntala (Samantha Ruth Prabhu), the daughter of Menaka (Madhoo), who is brought up in Rishi Kanva’s (Sachin Khedekar) ashram. During a hunting expedition, King Dushyant (Dev Mohan) encounters Shakuntala in the forest and falls in love with her. The two get married and have a child but Dushyant forgets everything about Shakuntala due to a curse by sage Durvasa (Mohan Babu). How fate reunites them forms the crux of the story. Actor Jisshu Sengupta plays the role of Indra in this mythological love story.
The Eken: Ruddhaswas Rajasthan (Bengali)
Directed by: Joydeep Mukherjee
Cast: Anirban Chakrabarti, Somak Ghosh, Suhotra Mukhopadhyay, Rajatava Dutta and Sandipta Sen
Based on a novel penned by late Sujan Dasgupta, The Eken: Ruddhaswas Rajasthan is the second film in the The Eken franchise. Ekendra Sen aka Eken Babu (Anirban Chakrabarti) is holidaying in Rajasthan with his friends Bapi (Suhotra Mukhopadhyay) and Pramatha (Somak Ghosh). Their vacation soon turns into an adventure when Shatadru Ghosh (Rajatava Dutta), a professor of archeology at University of Oxford, seeks Eken Babu’s help in uncovering a racket of artefact smugglers. Mr. Ghosh believes that an idol he had seen in an exhibition in London is actually stolen from Rajasthan. The film follows Eken Babu as he solves the mystery of the missing idol. Sandipta Sen plays a significant role in this detective thriller.
Love Marriage (Bengali)
Directed by: Premendu Bikash Chaki
Cast: Ranjit Mallick, Ankush Hazra, Aparajita Adhya, Oindrila Sen
Dipu (Ankush Hazra) is in love with Shaon (Oindrila Sen) and wants to marry her but his father (Ranjit Mallick) is against love marriage. Dipu, however, manages to convince his father to meet Shaon and her family. It turns out that Shaon’s mother (Aparajita Adhya) was Dipu’s father’s girlfriend once upon a time. The chance encounter rekindles their feelings for each other and they decide to get married, throwing Dipu and Shaon’s relationship into an existential crisis.
Shesh Pata (Bengali)
Directed by: Atanu Ghosh
Cast: Prosenjit Chatterjee, Gargee Roychowdhury and Vikram Chatterjee
Balmiki (Prosenjit Chatterjee) — an arrogant, middle-aged, out-of-work writer — lives in obscurity after enjoying his hay days. He is commissioned by a publishing house to pen a book about his murdered wife (Gargee Roychowdhury) but Balmiki fails to turn it in. The publishing house then appoints Sounak (Vikram Chatterjee), a debt recovery agent, to force Balmiki to put pen to paper.
