Hemlock Society (A)

- Rating :
- Critic's
  (Review)
- User's
  5
  (36 Reviews)
Starring :
Parambrata Chatterjee, Koel Mallick, Dipankar De, Roopa Ganguly, Silajit, Anindita Bose, Saheb Chattopadhyay, Soumitra Chatterjee, Sabitri Chatterjee, Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Bratya Basu, Raj Chakraborty, Sohag Sen, Barun Chanda, Priyanka and Jeet
Language : Bengali Genre : Romance
Synopsis :

The film is about a man (Parambrata) who runs a workshop in assisted suicide and his tryst with a depressed girl (Koel) who lands up there.
Director :
Srijit Mukherji
Music Director : Anupam Roy
Duration: 2 hrs & 15 mins

Rate This

Write Your Review

Reviews (36)

Synopsis

The film is about a man (Parambrata) who runs a workshop in assisted suicide and his tryst with a depressed girl (Koel) who lands up there.

Critic's Review

The biggest challenge for a Srijit Mukherji film is that his past two movies have been a happy marriage of critical and commercial acclaim. Success has become his parameter and the question haunting many is whether Hemlock Society is more mature than Autograph or does it not live up to the standards set by Baishey Srabon? Without making any comparisons, Hemlock Society is a decent attempt at presenting a romantic satire in Bengali.

For those who are apprehensive that a film on assisted suicide can be too morbid, this is a complete pro-life movie. The issues of a lonely daughter (Koel) unable to accept her stepmother (Roopa) and deal with breakup and office blues could have turned Hemlock Society into a very dark movie. Of course, the film dwells on some serious concerns regarding relationships, life and living. But it's also quite funny. Don't miss out the few deliberate references to how Hindi cinema has goofed up in some occasions, including Amitabh Bachchan's character in Bemisal. The dialogues are laced with wit (eg. description of the Bengalis' fetish as — Feludao jane, Nerudao jane abar Derridao jane). And just when you are very amused, Srijit punches in a comment that makes you wipe the smirk off the face.

In terms of acting, Param gives all that it takes to make his character very endearing. As Ananda Kar, he is Bengali cinema's self-confessed new-age Rajesh Babumoshai Khanna from Anand, who smiles while battling a near-fatal disease. Koel had a tough job at hand since she has always played this bubbly girl. It's nice to see Srijit reinventing her image and hopefully, she will be cast in more challenging and mature roles in future. After Abohomaan, this is perhaps the first time that Dipanker De has been cast in a character that has few layers. Roopa Ganguly, as Koel's stepmom, is a good choice too. While Priyanka and Anindita are convincing, Shaheb is okay.

Then, there is this motley group of actors as faculty members at the Hemlock Society. From Soumitra Chatterjee as Col Samaresh Bagchi, Sabyasachi Chakraborty as Dhomoni Ghosh, Sabitri Chatterjee as Jhulon Gupto, Barun Chanda as Trenlet Biswas to Raj Chakraborty as Setu Venkataraman, Bratya Basu as Raktim Ganguly, Sudeshna Guha as Shikha Goon and Sohag Sen as Miss Cella Neous, each of their names and mannerisms add a sense of comic relief to the film. Silajit, as a musician, makes few interesting observations on an artist's retirement age.

What also works for Srijit is the core competence of his team with Soumik Haldar (cinematographer), Bodhaditya Banerjee (editor) and Indradip Das Gupta (background score composer). Art director Ananda Addya uses his smart aesthetics to design a workshop room in black with suicide notes scrawled all over as opposed to a flake white room for prayer and assembly. Composer Anupam Roy, yet again, comes up with pensive and haunting tunes. Check out Lopamudra Mitra and Rupankar in Amar mawto, Shreya Ghoshal in Ei toh ami and Silajit in Jolphoring. What works as always with Anupam is his song-writing skill. Special mention must be made of the effective use of Prattyush Bandopadhyay's sarod tone in Amar mawto and Srijit's blue harp in Jolphoring.

Yet, the film sometimes falters while trying too hard not to be morbid and ends up digressing a little with comic tracks. It's surprising to see Srijit's use of in-film branding of a studio (where Jeet makes a special appearance) though the director has tried to merge it effortlessly with the demands of the script. Finally, Hemlock Society definitely deserves a watch for all those who celebrate life and others who need to know to do that as well.

36 User Ratings & Reviews for Hemlock Society

You can now SMS your reviews to 58888

Type rev<space>hem<space>your name<space>your rating(Choose 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5 or 5)<space>Add your comments if any, and send to 58888 Eg: rev aar anuj 3 cool movie

Sort By: Newest/ Oldest/ Recommended (6)/ Most Discussed/ Agree/ Disagree/ Logged in Comments

Biswajit Sarkar
: 0

Rating 45

Review posted within last 6 month

Good to watch and very neatly done.

Was this useful? Yes Some what
Reply
Report Abuse

rohan
: 0

Rating 45

Review posted within last 6 month

good movie

Was this useful? Yes (1) Some what
Reply
Report Abuse

Moumita Maity
: 0

Rating 3.55

Review posted within last 6 month

Absolutely Lovely movie. i loved the punch lines; dialogues and definitely parmbrata.

Was this useful? Yes Some what
Reply
Report Abuse

Rishabh
: 0

Rating 3.55

Review posted within last 6 month

nice movie..

Was this useful? Yes Some what
Reply
Report Abuse

Ashish
: 0

Rating 35