DDR Presents

Necklace (2011)
(A film by Sekhar Das)

DVD Rip - 700MB - X.264
 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1843994/
 
http://www.imagebam.com/image/849e63149724812 
http://www.imagebam.com/image/6e43b6149724845 
http://www.imagebam.com/image/c4a0e3149724891
 
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc255/debpk77/Necklace/Neck-data.png


Synopsis:

Shikha (Rituparna Sengupta) and Biswanath (Rittwik Chakraborty) are an upwardly mobile, urban couple. Biswanath buys an expensive necklace for his wife to celebrate his promotion to a higher rung in the corporate ladder. The same night, Kestopada Majhi (Rudraneel Ghosh), a thief, stealthily tries to break in. While getting caught, he falls of the second floor balcony of their apartment. His wife Kanakchampa, who is on the spot is distraught. Biswanath and his neighbours decide to buy off the thief and his wife, and Kanak is given shelter in their flat with disatrously comic results. Around this time, the couple suddenly discovers that the necklace is missing. They are caught in the conflicting emotions of buying off the thief's wife and finding the necklace. Strange things happen as Shikha starts to emphasize with Kanak.

What happens next is the story of the film...

Comments:

In a way this film suffers from scizophrenia. It passes itself off as a comedy thriller but quickly converts itself into a social drama, where the poor are necessarily downtrodden and the rich are necessarily idle and mostly vacuous. The film tries to caricture the rich and empathise with the plight of the poor but fails to make an impact with either attempt. Much of this has to do with the screenplay, which uses a number of characters that are quite unnecessary and merely clutter the film. I could not find a need for the character of Tagar the streetwalker (Chandreyi) who dies in a road accident or the flute player (Biplab Chatterjee), who we are told have a symbiotic relation with each other. If they do, the relationship is never explored and the fluteplayer does nothing except offer us some beautiful renditions of SD Burmans hindi film songs (from Guide, mostly). The screenplay is also jerky and unreal. Kestopada (Rudranil Ghosh) the thief sleeps on a pavement but has a wife (Locket) who does not. Together they hatch a completely unbelievable caper.

The film does not even build up suspense, wavering as it does between a social commentary and a thriller. Kanakchanpa has four children and yet decides to live it up by blackmailing the rich couple Biswanath and Sikha with no thought for them. She's also a noble soul who finding a rare necklace flaunts it instead of quickly hiding it. Then she gets into a fit of remorse and tries to kill herself, even when all is well and they are not being hounded by anyone - once again no thought for the unseen kids. But then the theme is such. The poor are noble but downtrodden and the rich are vacuous, selfseeking and amoral. The characters of Biswanath and Sikha are one dimensional and with no depth. The colonel (Biswajit Chakraborty) is almost unnecessary. About the only aspect believeable is the tendency of the affluent rich to stay away from the police and bribe their way through. The last scenes are totally unnecessary, even from the social-democratic undertone.

Watching the film I get the impression that Sekhar Das started out to make a film on the dichotomies of society but was forced to change the theme to meet box-office demands. As I said, the film is scizophrenic.

Acting is poor with Rituparna hamming her way and Locket Chatterjee too demure and refined to be effective as a street level blackmailer. Ritwik Chakraborty has the look and feel of a wimp - not a hard driving succesful executive. Dipankar Dey is natural and does well. The actors who play Parimal and Geeta, the neighbours are the only ones who convince.

Technically the film is good with Sirsha Ray doing a superb job of cinematography. The music is pleasing, even if it is not very original. Editing is awful and does not keep up either the suspense of the thriller or the pathos of the down-at-heel population. Direction is pedestrian.

Uploader's Notes:

This film has been uploaded before. I'm uploading it again, because I thought ppeople might like to see a 700MB, x.264 rip of high quality. The discerning will see that the aspect ratio is still not perfect and Rituparna's face looks a bit elongated. But improving that distorted those of Ritwick as well as Dipankar De [both became fat faced ]. what has been achieved is what I think is an acceptable compromise.