Antarmahal: Views of the Inner Chamber (2005)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Rituparno Ghosh

Release Date:

28 October 2005 (India)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In late 19th Century, Bengal Bhubaneswar Chowdhury (Jackie Shroff) is a wealthy and tyrannical Zamidar (Squire)...

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jackie Shroff	...	Zamindar Bhubaneshwar Chaudhary
Abhishek Bachchan	...	Brij Bhushan
Roopali Ganguly	...	Zamindar's wife (as Rupa Ganguly)
Soha Ali Khan	...	Zamindar's wife
Raima Sen	...	Rukmini
Mrinal Mukherjee
Sumanta Mukherjee
Biswajit Chakraborty		(as Bishwajit Chakraborty)
Ratna Ghoshal
Dola Chakraborty
Shibani Bhattacharya
Peter Taylor
Deb Mukherjee		(as Debesh Mukherjee)
Arpan Basar		(as Arpan Bashar)
Kameshwar Mishra

Runtime:

Switzerland:118 min (Locarno Film Festival) | UK:118 min (London Film Festival)

Country:

India

Language:

Bengali | Hindi | English

Color:

Color

Certification:

India:A

Filming Locations:

Calcutta, West Bengal, India

Company:

Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (A.B.C.L.)

Quotes:

Zamindar: Have you brought the sample of your work?
Taracharan: Yes, he has got them, sir...
Taracharan: Show what have you brought?
Vrij Bhushan, a Bihari sculptor: Yes, Sir... I have got a Jhinga.
Zamindar: What have you brought a vegetable?
Zamindar: O... this a lobster... why do call it a Jhinga...
Zamindar: where did you bring him from, Taracharan?
Taracharan: Well, sir... I think they call it Jhinga in Hindi... Is it.
Zamindar: What a strange language!
Zamindar: They mix up vegetarian dish with non vegetarian dish!
[...]

The dark secrets in a zameendar's mansion

Ghosh's 'Antarmahal' takes us to the inner chambers of a Zameendar's mansion, that is filled with dark and bizarre sexual secrets. Most of the stunning screenplay takes place in the house. Through colourful images and words we are hinted with hidden messages left for us to discover. The background score is haunting. The subtle portrayal of the events (especially the rituals) is disturbing indeed. The film does have its light moments which are conveyed through dark humour. The women are mere sex objects and their use is to produce an heir. Due to the fact that the zameendar is unable to conceive with his first wife, he brings a second wife (and has a mistress) but remains unable to conceive with either women. Then, taking the advice of priests the zameendar engages in bizarre sexual rituals with his women. In term of performances, 'Antarmahal' belongs to Roopali Ganguli (the first wife) and Soha Ali (the second wife). Roopali brings the first wife's mischievous pranks and her wisdom with a certain class while Soha does it by bringing out the naivety and innocence. Jackie Shroff is adequately frightening as the evil Zameendar. Yet he also brings a human quality in the scenes where he questions his actions. Abhishek Bachchan is strictly alright. 'Antarmahal' is indeed a very disturbing film and it demands that the viewer be able to absorb the subject but it is worth watching.