Bhootpori is a 2024 Bengali language Indian horror fantasy film written and directed by Soukarya Ghosal, starring Jaya Ahsan, Ritwick Chakraborty, Shantilal Mukherjee, Sudipta Chakraborty and introducing Bishantak Mukherjee. The story revolves around a lonely ghost who is waiting for her emancipation with a belief that humans become ghosts to transform into fairies.[1]
Bhootpori is based on the idea of reincarnation which is very much celebrated in Indian popular culture and spiritual texts. The film depicts death not as an end of a life cycle but an intermediate stage of becoming an angel from the mortal of human life. The film was an official selection for Indian Panorama at the 55th International Film Festival of India in Goa 2024.[2]
Plot
The story is based on the life and afterlife of Bonolata who was killed by a priest before she turned into Bhootpori. During the days of her mortal life Bonolata accidentally gets to know about the secret of child sacrifice which Kalothakur, the priest was performing for quite a longtime in her village. So before she could unravel the dark truth she is murdered to keep the secret intact.
Since Bonolata was attacked from the back so she couldn’t recognise the murderer. Soon after dying Bonolata sees a dream where she levitates as a light feather but suddenly wakes as a ghost keeping the dream unfinished. From then she remains sad and lonely in the world of death till a little boy named Shurjo comes to help her after seventy springs. On their first encounter both ghost and the boy get intrigued and suspicious towards each other as both of them could see, feel and touch each other just like normal human beings, which they are not supposed to.
Incidentally Shurjo is also the great grandson of Kalothakur who suffers from somnambulism and is brought to the village away from city bustles by his parents to have a change of air. After getting to know about Bonolata’s unfinished dream he reveals that he repeatedly sees the same dream which Bonolata saw when fell asleep. Bonolata also informs Shurjo only if she could sleep again and sees the dream then she would turn into an angel, freed from the bandages of the mudane world of death. In course of chasing the mystery of the village and Kalothakur, Shurjo meets a village thief, Makhon who tells him about a secret underground room which has all the answers. Makhon's ancestor had entered this room and copied down writings that are written in a language no one understands according to him.
Noru Thakur, the disciple of Kalothakur comes to meet Shurjo's mother, Shilalipi. He tells her the story of Bonolota and how he had met her ghost after she died where in an accident he had ended up burning his face which he still carries to this day. On telling his master this incident his master had stopped child sacrifice and committed suicide. He warns Shilalipi that Bonolota can only attain enlightenment once she kills a descendant of Kalothakur and she is after her son. Hearing this from his hidden spot where Shurjo was hiding with Bonolota he looks at her with betrayal and runs away.
He ends up finding the room Makhon had told him about and he realised the strange writings were not letters or secret codes they were formed by the shadow of a strange wire shaped 3d object in the middle of the room, and everytime he turned it to match the shadow to one of the letters voices of children sang out the notes of sargam. The strange alphabets were the notes of a song that could help ghosts sleep.
He leaves the room but collapses from a fever. Makhon finds him and leaves him back on the porch of his house. His mother gets worried and calls for the doctor. Once the doctors examines him and everyone leaves him to rest, Makhon emerges from under the bed. Shurjo tells him everything he saw and starts decoding the song.
That night we see Bonolota apparate into his room but she only locks the door unlike what the movie makes you believe for a sceond. Then she targets his mother. Then we start seeing things from inside Shurjo's dream he sees Bonolota on a boat he is playing a violin and Bonolota drifts away into the sky. Shurjo finishes playing and immediately rushes to his mother's help he had seen her in his dream and knew she was sleepwalking.
After this, Shurjo goes back to the place he had met Bonolota and mourns for her. His family is going back to Kolkata. Makhon comes to bid him adieu, he is really proud of what Shurjo has managed to do so he gifts him the book his ancestor had left behind. A gift from a thief to a rich man's son.
While going back a gold feather falls onto Shurjo's hand, Bonolota has become bhootpori.[3][4]
The Music of the film is composed by Nabarun Bose. The sound design and mixing are done by Anindit Roy and Adeep Singh Manki. The film has one song originally written and composed by Sri Ramprasad Sen. Nabarun Bose rearranged and programmed the song which is sung by Rajarshi Burman in the film. The soundtrack was released by Surinder Films.
No.
Title
Writer(s)
Singer(s)
Length
1.
"Mayer Emni Bichar Bote"
Ramprasad Sen
Rajarshi Burman
6:30
Total length:
6:30
Reception
The film was released on 9 February 2024 in India and received positive critical reviews. The Times of India gives 3.5 Critics rating out of 5. Bhootpori ran for uninterrupted 75 days in theatres.[5][6][7]
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