Subho Mahurat (2003)

Simply A Masterpiece

How sad is this?

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Brilliant dialogues, interesting story line and tremendous acting. Rakhi Gulzar take a bow for portraying Ranga Pishi so superbly. She does justice to every dialogue whether it's humour, sarcasm, wit or a playful jibe. Nandita Das brightens up every frame with her screen presence. Sharmila Tagore playing an actress - superstar, does more than justice to her character. So do Anindya and Tota.Bengali movies needed a breath of fresh air, and such crisp film making along with portrayal of so many emotions, could possibly be only done by Rituparno. I am sure he will be counted as one of the legends in Bengali cinema. RIP Mr. Ghosh.

I have seen "Mirror Cracked" with Elizabeth Taylor in the actress role. I really thought the director would give some twist or make it more interesting.I am not a Bengali but quite interested to see the creativity in their movies.On the contrary it was very boring and slow.Why is the cop more interested in dating a prime witness(in fact the last person to see the victim alive) a journalist rather than solving the case?Isnt it unethical in the first place? Why is Nandita Das shown as so immature and foolish that obvious hints cannot be understood by her but have to be interpreted by her aunt Rakhee? Some of the characters are written with no logic.A lady who has been dumped by a man despite having a very sick child restarts her affair after getting money from someone else to treat the child.An actress who has a serious drug problem is hired for a lead role despite the director hating her. I have never been a fan of Rakhee but she did justice to the role. But between Sharmila Tagore and her, I felt Sharmila Tagore was the better actress.

In the current era of Bengali cinema, where often the average wit required to endure a 3 hour torture is less than a 3 year old's, this Rituporno whodunit comes as a fragrant zephyr. In fact, unlike some other critically acclaimed movies made by Rituporno (like Raincoat), this one is well-paced, and holds the audience till the very end.Granted it is taken from the Miss Marple story 'The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side'. But for someone who has NOT read Agatha Christie to a great extent, this will truly be worth the ticket. Again, for the ones like us, who have been die-hard Christie fans since our teens, we should know pretty well how difficult it is to make a screenplay out of a Christie novel. Simple b'cos her stories have the psychological treatment much more than actual actions. This is where Rituporno excels. He has got a fantastic script, acted out by brilliant actors, and what we get in the end is a true treat.A very good Bengali film after a L-O-N-G time.

This movie is based of an Agatha Christie novel, which for its time must have been very original and spellbinding, but in this time and age, making a movie based on those stories is an insult to the audience. 10 minutes into the movie its easy to guess who is the victim as well as who is the killer. The acting on the other hand is great, which is what i would expect anyway, since this movie is packed with bollywood superstars like Nandita Das and Sharmila Tagor.