Dam is effective as the let-down ‘choti bahu’ who wreaks damage. The writing is skilful and stays on point, and the performances are all solid: Bose in the twin roles of the suspicious ‘thakur moshai’, as well as the man trapped in his damaged mind, Tiwary as the ‘devar’ who is a constant companion to his as-young-as-himself lovely bhabhi, Chatterjee as the ‘doctor babu’ who has a soft spot for the ‘badi bahu’. Patriarchy was alive and well then, and hasn’t gone anywhere.ĭutt uses the ancient trope of a bloodthirsty ‘chudail with ultey pair’, a familiar creature tale in our scary ‘kisse-kahaani’, to create dread and fear. Because we know, don’t we, that women who cannot be contained by their ‘bichhiyas’ (toe rings worn by traditional married women) and ‘sindoor’, need to be controlled, even today. But that’s all right, because it resonates. The deep crimson palette sometimes becomes too obvious a signifier for the bloody goings-on in and around the haveli. And, of course, red is the colour of the movie. It’s also one of those films whose design and soundscape is in perfect synch: Amit Trivedi’s music lulls you, and beguiles you.
And more.Īnd yet, Bulbbul is very much its own film, the mix of classic pre-Renaissance Bengal and desi horror gothic making for gripping viewing. The girl-trapped-in-domesticity in Ray’s Charulata, who is shown a different world through a visitor/ interloper. The ‘badi bahu’ reference feels like it’s harking back to Abrar Alvi’s iconic Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam. There are so many influences jostling in Dutt’s film, which she has also written, that it’s hard to keep track: right on top is Rabindranath Tagore’s classic Chokher Bali-not just the names Binodini and Mahendra, but the messy strands of the relationship between a young widow, a child-bride and a brother-in-law.
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