Chatrak

Chatrak (English: Mushrooms) is a 2011 Indian Bengali erotic drama film directed by Sri Lankan director Vimukthi Jayasundara.[1] It was screened at several film festivals worldwide, including the Directors' Fortnight at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Chatrak
Directed byVimukthi Jayasundara
Produced byVinod Lahoti
Starring
CinematographyChanna Deshapriya
Edited byJulie Beziau
Music byRoman Dymmy
Release date
  • 18 May 2011 (2011-05-18) (Cannes)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageBengali

Plot

Rahul (Sudeep Mukherjee) is a Bengali architect working at construction sites in Dubai. He returns home to Kolkata after several years. His girlfriend, Paoli (Paoli Dam), has been waiting for his return.

Rahul's seemingly successful life is overshadowed by the search for his brother (Sumeet Thakur), said to now be mad and living in the forest, where he sleeps in the trees and subsists on vegetation. This brother befriends a French soldier in the jungle. Rahul and Paoli journey in search of his lost brother.[2]

The story involves people who are expropriated for construction projects.

Cast
  • Paoli Dam as Paoli
  • Sudip Mukherjee as Rahul
  • Tómas Lemarquis as French soldier
  • Sumeet Thakur as brother of Rahul
  • Anubrata Basu as Anubrata

Release and screenings

Chatrak was screened at film festivals like the prestigious Directors' Fortnight in the 2011 Cannes Film Festival,[3][4] the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival and the Pacific Meridian film festival in Vladivostok, Russia.[5]

It has not received a theatrical release.

Reception

The Hollywood Reporter commented on Mushrooms that, "The film's abstract naturalism does create an austere portrait of a crass and careless human society but any larger meaning gets lost amid the film's many non-events and preening nihilism."[6] The Variety review noted the "extremely slow-burning story", saying, "... the main element uniting Jayasundara's plot strands is a sense of torpor..."[7] A review in the online film magazine Notebook praised the film, noting that it artistically portrays "...Cinematic dreams and nightmares, visible intuitions of the world around, visual understanding of what corruption of the society and corruption of the soul can do."[8] Sight & Sound of the British Film Institute praised it, stating "Disconcerting though the plot may at least initially be, the film has its wild as well as some comic moments that soon win the viewer over."[9]

Controversy

A scene in Chatrak with explicit frontal nudity has caused uproar in India, especially in Kolkata, where the film was mainly shot.[10][11][12] A version without the sexually explicit scene was arranged to be shown in the 2011 Kolkata Film Festival.[13]

Director Jayasundara admitted that there are several versions of Chatrak, and some do not contain the sex scene. He also admitted that he was surprised to witness negative feedback due to the inclusion of such sex scene in his film.[12]

References
  1. "Women on top". The Telegraph. 24 June 2012. Archived from the original on 28 June 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  2. Mirguet, Benjami. "Chatrak". quinzaine-realisateurs.com. Société des Réalisateurs de Films. Archived from the original on 20 November 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  3. "Cannes 2011 film profiles: Directors Fortnight & Critics Week". Screen International. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  4. "Paoli Cannes do it". The Telegraph. 17 September 2011. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  5. Dasgupta, Priyanka (18 August 2011). "Paoli at Toronto International Film Fest". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  6. Honeycutt, Kirk (19 May 2011). "Mushrooms (Chatrak): Cannes 2011 Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  7. van Houij, Boyd (31 May 2011). "Cannes Reviews: Chatrak". Variety. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  8. Duhamel, Marie-Pierre (19 May 2011). "Cannes 2011. Snapshots: Vimukthi Jayasundara's "Chatrak"". Notebook. MUBI. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  9. "Cannes 2011: The S&S blog". Sight & Sound. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  10. Vats, Rohit (12 October 2011). "Is 'Chatrak' the boldest film ever made in India?". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 23 September 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  11. Dasgupta, Priyanka (15 September 2011). "Paoli axed from movie promos". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 18 January 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  12. Dasgupta, Priyanka (18 September 2011). "I'll cast Paoli in my next: Vimukti Jayasundara". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  13. Dasgupta, Priyanka (29 September 2011). "Kolkata spared Chatrak blushes". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
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