Shubho Muhurat

Ghosh weaves this evocative tale around the mysterious murder of a film heroine witnessed by a scribe and leads the viewer into three lines of investigation... which one will finally prove right?

Director/Screenplay: Rituparno Ghosh
Cast: Rakhee Gulzar, Sharmila Tagore, Nandita Das
Bengali/150 minutes/Colour/2002

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After 20 years, Padmini, a retired filmstar of yesteryears, comes all the way from America to launch her second husband, Sambit, as the director of his debut film in Kolkata.

Kakoli, the proposed heroine of the film, is infamous for her narcotic addiction. On the first day of the shoot (normally known as the Muhurat) appears Mallika, an aspiring journalist, who lives with her Rangapishima, her widowed aunt, for her maiden film assignment.

Mallika accompanies Kakoli home after the shoot for an exclusive interview only to remain the lone witness of Kakoli’s sudden accidental death. The media is ripe with assumptions and the police are misled with ever-changing crime clues. At this point a second death occurs.

Rangapishima, an avid fan of Padmini, intervenes with her native intelligence and conducts an investigation on her own domesticated steam simultaneously setting the stage for a rivetting and complex dramatic narrative.

CREDITS
Producer: Bishu Chakraborty & Indra Kumar Ghosh
Cinematography: Aveek Mukhopadhyay
Editor: Arghya Kamal Mitra
Art: Debojyoti Mishra
Sound: Anup Mukhopadhyaya