Khwato (The Wound): Movie Review

Khawto (The Wound): Some Wounds Stay Fresh!

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Reviewer’s Thumb Mark

Khwato is intriguing and questions all notions you hold about love, relationship, lust, passion and adultery. Khwato takes the audience through the dark alleys of a man’s mind and shows how the drain that flows out through these alleys pollutes his relationship with his dear ones in his life. The film is about a very famous author who writes dark, romantic thrillers and is in demand across all age groups. He unknowingly or knowingly ventures into a dangerous journey of living the lives of what he writes and creates situations that end up in sexual and erotic escapades. He is comfortable with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with in him. He effortlessly slips through both the skins of Jekyll and Hyde as and when required until then he is unmasked by his most wanted and trusted people in his life.

The pivotal role is played by Prosenjit Mukherjee who is strikingly perfect in his role as Nirbed Lahiri, the novelist in this film. He is the narrator and he is the character under question. The protagonist says’ “Lok e jete bole, aami sheta korina… aami jeta likhi, sheta lok e kore” (I don’t do things that people say, people do that what I write). Nirbed Lahiri the most popular writer with a huge fan following one day vanishes in thin air only to emerge in a distant land to tell his side of the story to two young couple out to be with themselves at a serene beach resort before they tie the nuptial knot.

Tridha Choudhury and Ronodeep Bose play the young lovers Rishav and Sohag who come across this man who lives a solitary life in a cottage near their seaside resort at Koelphuli. There encounter with Nirbed leads to discussion that ranges from different cuisines to Bengali literary works. Never ever did they imagine in their wildest dream that they were speaking to one of the most prolific writers who vanished twenty years ago.  Their interaction one after another with Nirbed Lahiri opens a Pandora’s Box. From Drubo Lahiri the happier guy to Nirbed Lahiri the writer, the journey is quiet scandalous and tumultuous.

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The story telling by Kamaleswar Mukherjee through Nirbed Lahiri is so fascinating that you get caught up in the cobweb of love, relationship, lust and betrayal woven by the novelist that makes you struggle and feel helpless to come out of it. You are constantly preyed and attacked by the simmering guilt, angst and anger you go through with the characters on screen.

When one’s want for physical pleasure outgrow the moral and ethical boundaries then the line between being an animal and a human being diminishes. This is what Nirbed’s wife Srijita feels when she catches her husband red hand. A picnic with a bunch of family friends and her philandering husband becomes the deepest wound for many which stay fresh for the rest of their lives. Raima Sen as Srijita portrays the strong side of a wife who supports and stands by her husband but refuses to play second fiddle to Antara (Paoli Dam) the lady in question in her husband’s life. After ‘Chokher Bali’, Raima Sen once again plays the role Prosenjit’s wife onscreen in Khwato.

Raima Sen and Paoli Dam as Antara have done a fabulous work. Paoli Dam’s Antara stays in your mind as a woman who is exploited, coerced into physical relationship by a shrewd womanizer and as a woman who finds herself in a place and state of mind where it’s difficult to come back to normal life.

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Khwato is a well-made erotic thriller about love, lust, hate and a lot more. The background score, music and songs are all beautifully in sync with the film. Kamaleswar Mukherjee makes us think about whether our relationship is driven purely by lust or it has love and an emotional side to it.

In short, Khwato is a sure shot watch. It is a bold, beautiful and romantic thriller that will keep you glued to your seat till the end. It shall prick your conscience and make you witness the battle of two powerful forces – the flesh and the conscience – one which everyone experiences in life and would have succumbed to either of the two many times in our life.  Go and watch Khwato to fully understand what ‘The father of self-destruction’ Nirbed Lahiri tells, “Opportunity, bravery and power these can turn the ‘angel’ into a ‘Devil’ and the Devil into an Angel”. I am sure when you come out of the theater after this cocktail of love, passion, lust and sin it will take you sometime to get over with its hangover.

Life Connoisseur Movie Rating: 4/5

Cast: Prosenjit Chattertjee (Nirbed Lahiri), Raima Sen (Srijita), Paoli Dam (Antara), Rahul (Alokesh), Ushasie Chakraborty, Tridha Choudhury (Sohag), Ronodeep (Rishav)

Genre: Romantic Thriller

Director: Kamaleshwar Mukherjee

Art Director: Dhananjay Mondal

Producer: Shrikant Mohta, Mahendra Soni

Dialogues by: Kamaleswar Mukherjee

Screenplay: Kamaleswar Mukherjee

Story: Kamaleswar Mukherjee

Music by: Anupam Roy

Background Score: Binitranjan Maitra

Cinematography: Soumik Haldar

Edited by: Rabiranjan Maitra

Production: Shree Venkatesh Films (SVF)

Distributor: Shree Venkatesh Films (SVF)

Release Date: 22nd July, 2016

Duration: 132 Minutes

Language: Bengali