Jun. 30, 2023|India|Not Rated
Genre: Action;Bangla;History
Description: **Shibpur 2023 Movie Overview**
**Storyline:**
In Arindam Bhattacharya’s “Shibpur,” the film presents a raw depiction of violence that would have been unthinkable for Bengali cinema a decade ago. The story opens with shocking images, including a decapitated head on a side street and a mobster meeting his end in the very market where he previously committed horrific acts. The emergence of platforms offering crime narratives has certainly transformed Indian cinema, allowing for more graphic content that audiences now accept without hesitation.
The film features Kharaj Mukherjee playing Tapan, a mob boss, who inflicts brutality on his rivals, while Swastika Mukherjee’s character, Mandira, seeks vengeance by confronting her husband’s murderer. Although the violence portrayed is not unoriginal, it highlights a seldom-discussed history of gang conflicts that plagued certain urban areas, and the storytelling brings some merit to the table.
However, the screenplay falters due to a disjointed narrative and underdeveloped characters, leaving viewers with little to invest in them emotionally. Over the course of 132 minutes, the film struggles to flesh out any lead character sufficiently. The reasons behind the conflicts between the two dominant crime figures, Tapan and Nepal, remain obscured, as do Mandira’s motivations for her involvement in crime.
Set in the 1980s, the plot follows a government employee who is murdered in a gang-related altercation. His widow, Mandira, embarks on a quest for justice, enlisting the help of Tapan, a local gangster. In her pursuit of vengeance, she tracks down and kills one of her husband’s assassins. With Tapan’s backing, Mandira rises in power and begins to wield influence in Shibpur, becoming a significant figure among the male-dominated crime circles. However, the film fails to convincingly portray the ease of her ascent within such a brutal world.
Cast director: Arindam Bhattacharya
Cast actor: Parambrata Chatterjee, Swastika Mukherjee, Kharaj Mukherjee, Mamata Shankar, Rajatabha Dutta, Subhasish Mukherjee, Akshay Kapoor, Susmita Chatterjee, Sujan Mukherjee, Rajdeep Sarkar
Original name: শিবপুর