Shubho Mahurat

Last updated

Shubho Mahurat
Shubho Mahurat.jpg
DVD cover
Directed by Rituparno Ghosh
Written by Agatha Christie (story)
Rituparno Ghosh (screenplay)
Starring Sharmila Tagore
Raakhee
Nandita Das
Tota Roy Chowdhury
Sumanta Mukherjee
Anindya Chatterjee
Cinematography Avik Mukhopadhyay
Edited by Arghyakamal Mitra
Music by Debojyoti Mishra
Release date
2003
Running time
150 minutes
Country India
Language Bengali

Shubho Mahurat is a 2003 Indian Bengali mystery thriller film directed by Rituparno Ghosh. The film is based on Agatha Christie's 1962 Miss Marple detective novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side . [1] Its ensemble cast includes Sharmila Tagore, Rakhee Gulzar, Nandita Das, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Anindya Chatterjee, Moumita Gupta and Rajesh Sharma. It won two National Film awards, those of Best Feature film in Bengali and Best Supporting Actress for Rakhee. [2]

Contents

Plot

The phrase "Shubho Mahurat" (Bengali: শুভ মহরৎ) is associated with the beginning of shooting for a feature film. The first shot is marked by a grand reception.

An NRI producer and former leading actress, Padmini Chowdhury (Sharmila Tagore), has returned to India to invest in a film. Her second husband Sambit Roy (Sumanta Mukherjee), an out-of-work director, is assigned to direct. Padmini insists on casting a retired actress, Kakoli Sengupta (Kalyani Mandal), in a prominent role. Covering the event are a journalist for a local magazine, Mallika Sen (Nandita Das), and a freelance photographer, Shubhankar Chowdhury (Anindya Chatterjee). The production team also includes makeup artist Kalpana Sengupta (Moumita Gupta) and camera assistant Sunil Mehra (Rajesh Sharma).

At the reception, Kakoli feels unwell and leaves early. She takes Mallika home with her after agreeing to do an interview. At her house, however, Kakoli's condition deteriorates until she collapses and dies. Learning from her husband that she was a drug addict, police suspect an overdose, but the autopsy reveals strychnine poisoning. Investigating officer Arindam Chatterjee (Tota Roy Chowdhury) initially suspects the husband, who is in an extramarital affair, but the poison is found to have entered her system while she was at the reception event. Mallika reveals that Kakoli only had a glass of soft drink at the party, and the drink was actually meant for Padmini, meaning that she was the real target. Mallika discusses all this with her paternal aunt, Ranga Pishima (Rakhee Gulzar), who conjectures that another murder might soon follow. Meanwhile, a mutual attraction develops between both Mallika-Arindam and Mallika-Shubhankar. Pishima discovers that Shubhankar is actually related to Padmini: his uncle was Padmini's first husband, and she doted on Shubhankar when he was a child.

Kalpana tells Padmini about her relationship with Sunil, who is married, and how Sunil had refused to pay for the treatment of Kalpana's daughter. Padmini promises to help her, and tells her about her own son, who died aged 16 from a congenital disorder. Kalpana then goes to Sunil's, is seen leaving after having some soft drink, and is later reported dead. Sunil is arrested.

Pishima listens to the recordings of Mallika's interview with Kakoli, questions Shubhankar further about Padmini, then asks Mallika to call up the director of Kakoli and Padmini's last film together. She then places an anonymous piece in her niece's magazine, which is about whether infections during pregnancy can harm the unborn child, in the edition which is to carry Padmini's interview with Mallika. A copy is sent to Padmini with the page highlighted. This has the desired effect as Padmini rushes to Pishima and Mallika's home to enquire about the piece, and Pishima narrates to her how she has solved the mystery.

During their last film together, Padmini was pregnant and Kakoli had a contagious disease, which she spread to her co-actress. This infection was transmitted to the unborn child, which would later lead to his death. Padmini poisoned Kakoli in revenge, but was seen by Kalpana, who tried to blackmail her and was silenced in turn.

Pishima tells Padmini that she is her fan and her story is safe with her. Padmini returns home and is later found to have committed suicide. As per her last promise, she sends Pishima an autograph and a long reply to her fan mail, in which she also promises to support the treatment of Kalpana's daughter.

Conflicted between Arindam and him, Mallika asks Shubhankar if it is possible to love two people at once. Shubhankar replies that Padmini had once said the same thing before she left his uncle for Sambit. He also says that Padmini proved it herself that this was impossible: she had completely forgotten about Shubhankar after her son was born, to the point that she could not recognise him at the reception.

Cast [3]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rituparno Ghosh</span> Indian film director, actor, writer, and lyricist

Rituparno Ghosh was an Indian film director, actor, writer and lyricist. After pursuing a degree in economics, he started his career as a creative artist at an advertising agency. He received recognition for his second feature film Unishe April which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Having won 19 National Awards, along with his contemporaries Aparna Sen and Goutam Ghose, Rituparno heralded contemporary Bengali cinema to greater heights. Ghosh died on 30 May 2013 in Kolkata after a heart attack. Ghosh was also one of the openly homosexual personalities in Indian cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tota Roy Chowdhury</span> Indian actor from Tollywood (born 1976)

Tota Roy Chowdhury is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Bengali and Hindi cinema. He is also known for his versatile acting performances, fitness, martial arts and dance moves. His notable roles include Feluda in the web TV series Feluda Pherot based on Satyajit Ray's Feluda series, Chandon Chatterjee in Karan Johar's film Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani and Rohit Sen in Star Jalsha's daily soap Sreemoyee.

<i>Antaheen</i> 2009 Indian film

Antaheen is a 2009 Bengali film directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury. The film stars Radhika Apte, Rahul Bose, Mita Vashisth, Aparna Sen, Kalyan Ray and Sharmila Tagore.

<i>Aparajita Tumi</i> 2012 film by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury

Aparajita Tumi is a 2012 Indian Bengali-language drama film directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury. The film stars Prosenjit Chatterjee, Kamalinee Mukherjee, Padmapriya Janakiraman, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Indraneil Sengupta. It is a venture of director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury after his successful and critically acclaimed movie Antaheen. This film also had Shantanu Moitra as music director and Anindya and Chandril as lyricists like Tony's previous film. The film is an adaptation of the novel Dui Nari Hathe Tarbari by famous Bengali writer Sunil Gangopadhyay.

Moumita Gupta is a Bengali film and television actress.

<i>Aborto</i> 2013 Indian film

Aborto is a Bengali film released on 1 March 2013 and directed by Arindam Sil in his directorial debut. According to Sil, this film would be the greatest tribute to Satyajit Ray that has ever been made. The film stars Bangladesh actress Jaya Ahsan, Tota Roy Chowdhury and Abir Chatterjee in lead roles. The screenplay was written by filmmaker Atanu Ghosh, but was not acknowledged on the posters by the director.

<i>Alik Sukh</i> 2013 Indian film

Alik Sukh is a 2013 Bengali Medical psychological thriller based on the novel Alikh Sukh by Suchitra Bhattacharya. The film is directed by the duo Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy, starring Debshankar Haldar, Rituparna Sengupta and Sohini Sengupta in the lead roles. It released on 19 July 2013. The storyline is based on a novel of Bengali novelist Suchitra Bhattacharya.

<i>Buno Haansh</i> 2014 Indian film

Buno Haansh is an Indian Bengali action thriller film directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury. It is based on a novel by Samaresh Majumdar of the same name, and features actors Dev, Srabanti Chatterjee and Tanusree Chakraborty in the lead roles. The music in this film was composed by Shantanu Moitra. The film released on 15 August 2014.

<i>Lathi</i> (1996 film) 1996 Indian film

Lathi (transl. Stick) is a 1996 Bengali family drama film directed by Prabhat Roy. The Film stars Victor Banerjee as the protagonist. It also stars Soumitra Chatterjee, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Debashree Roy, Satabdi Roy, Haradhan Bandopadhyay, Abhishek Chatterjee, Pallavi Chatterjee, Rituparna Sengupta, Deepankar De, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Sabyasachi Chakrabarty and Kaushik Sen. The music of the film has been composed by Bappi Lahiri.

<i>Tomay Amay Mile</i> 2013 Bengali television series

Tomay Amay Mile is a Bengali television drama on Star Jalsha. It ran from 11 March 2013 to 21 March 2016 and starred Ditipriya Roy, Riju Biswas, Roosha Chatterjee and Gourab Roy Chowdhury. The show was official remake of Star Plus's show Diya Aur Baati Hum.

<i>Checkmate</i> (Indian TV series) Television series

Checkmate was an Indian Bengali television thriller series which aired on Star Jalsha from 21 January 2012 to 15 June 2012.

<i>Goyenda Ginni</i> Indian Bengali anthology television series

Goyenda Ginni was an Indian Bengali crime drama anthology television series that premiered on 7 September 2015 to 25 December 2016 and aired on Zee Bangla. It was produced by Shree Venkatesh Films, it starred Indrani Haldar, Saheb Chatterjee, Aditi Chatterjee and Indrajeet Bose. It marks the comeback of Haldar into Bengali television. It replaced the show Raage Anuraage. It got back in March 2020 due to COVID-19 situation.

<i>Haami</i> 2018 Indian film

Haami is a 2018 Bengali film directed by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee. The movie is produced by Windows and is distributed regionally by the same. As per the figures provided by trade magazine. Film Companion, it was the highest grosser in Bengali cinema in 2018. Haami is a tale of two friends, Bhutu and Chini, who comes from entirely different backgrounds. Before Haami, Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee came up with Ramdhanu which also dealt with the story of harried parents and what they go through in order to put their children in good schools. Haami could well be considered as a sequel to this, where Laltu and Mitali's characters are played by the same cast i.e. Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Gargi Roy Chowdhury.The Malayalam rights of this movie have been acquired by Rajesh Nair, who made Salt Mango Tree, based on the same film.

<i>Shubho Drishti</i> Indian Bengali television soap opera

Shubho Drishti was a popular Bengali television soap opera. It premiered on 1 January 2018. It aired on Colors Bangla. It starred Gourab Roy Chowdhury and Aishwarya Sen in lead roles and Bidipta Chakraborty and Sukanya Goswami in a negative role. The show was produced by Shibaji Panja of Vandana Films and Enterprises. Prasenjit Chatterjee and Rituparna Sengupta played cameo roles in this serial.

<i>Nishir Daak</i> Indian TV series or programme

Nishir Daak was an Indian Bengali-language supernatural television soap opera that premiered on 3 December 2018 and aired on Colors Bangla; it is also available on the digital platform Voot. The show was produced under the banner of Shree Venkatesh Films. The show stars Tumpa Ghosh and Shubhankar Saha in lead roles, Sairity Banerjee in a negative role, and Sukanya Chatterjee and Sandip in other prominent supporting roles.

<i>Mahapeeth Tarapeeth</i> Bengali mythological TV show

Mahapeeth Tarapeeth was a Bengali mythological show that was aired on Star Jalsha and is also available on Disney+ Hotstar. The show narrates the origin of Tarapith shrine- the journey from fear to faith and chart the various phases of Maa Tara and Bamakhepa’s journey to fight against societal evils. This show was produced by Max Entertainment, Surinder Films.

<i>Sreemoyee</i> Indian Bengali Soap Opera

Sreemoyee is an Indian Bengali serial that aired on Star Jalsha and is also digitally available on Disney+ Hotstar. It was produced by Magic Moments Motion Pictures Pvt. Ltd of Saibal Banerjee and Leena Gangopadhyay, which premiered on 10 June 2019. The show starred Indrani Haldar in the title role. After a successful run of two-and-a-half years it went off-air on 19 December 2021.

<i>Gotro</i> 2019 Bengali drama film

Gotro (transl. Clan) is a 2019 Indian Bengali-language emotional family drama film, directed, produced and co-written by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee. It stars Anashua Majumdar, Nigel Akkara and Manali Dey, with Ambarish Bhattacharya, Saheb Chatterjee and Badshah Moitra. The film revolves around the relationship between Mukti Debi (Majumdar), a widow who lives alone in her mansion, with her caretaker Tareq (Akkara), an ex-convict and shows how their lives undergo a change.

<i>Durga</i> (TV series) Indian soap opera

Durga was an Indian Bengali language television soap opera, which aired from 8 September 2008 – 26 June 2010 on Bengali GEC Star Jalsha. The show starred Sandipta Sen, Gourab Chatterjee and Swagata Mukherjee and Payel De in lead roles.

Feludar Goyendagiri is an Indian streaming television series, directed by Srijit Mukherji. It is based on the stories of the Bengali sleuth Feluda, written by Satyajit Ray. Originally known as Feluda Pherot and streaming on Addatimes, the show began streaming on Hoichoi from 17 June 2022.

References

  1. ↑ "Aboard the mystery train | Cinemaexpress". Cinema Express . Archived from the original on 27 January 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "'Shubho Mahurat' - Rituparno Ghosh and his memorable National Award-winning films". The Times of India. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  3. ↑ Shubho Mahurat (2003) - IMDb, 25 July 2003, retrieved 16 September 2020
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.