Bengali filmmaker Sandip Ray’s 2012 movie Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy (English: Where there is fear of ghosts) is an interesting film with three different ghost stories. Considering the production value, which I guess is very low, and this unique style of storytelling – I must say that this is a treat to watch.
Unlike many other horror movies, this film doesn’t offer you chills rather takes most of us back to our childhood when we used to hear stories from our grandparents or elders, and when ghost stories used to occupy a special place in our hearts.
One of the interesting aspects of Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy is that it has taken stories from the most loved Bengali literature, including two stories from acclaimed Indian filmmaker and author Satyajit Ray (Anath Babur Bhoy, and Brown Shaheber Bari), and the other is Sirshendu Mukhopadhaya’s Bhoot Bhabisyat.
The film starts with an aged gentleman Tarinicharan or Tarini Khuro (a fictional character created by Satyajit Ray) telling his young fans about ghosts. The first story which he narrates to the boys is based on Ray’s ‘Anath Babur Bhoy’. This is about one gentleman Ananth Babu and his passion for ghost hunting in different haunted places.
The second story is Ray’s ‘Brown Saheber Bari’ – which follows a passionate reader who gets hold of a very old diary and goes on to find the mystery character called Simon, mentioned many times in the diary. This makes him go to an old dilapidated mansion of Mr. Brown in Kalimpong.
Situated in a typical Bengali village, the last one based on Sirshendu’s story Bhoot Bhabisyat. This follows the relationship between a writer named Pratap and a friendly 19th-century ghost, who requests him to do a favor and in return, the ghost offers him a great amount.
Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy – Theatrical Trailer (Bengali)
Overall, Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy is a very amusing and entertaining film – if we think about Bengali literature and some of the great stories written by many acclaimed authors.
Each story in the film is very unique in nature and the director has also done a brilliant job in putting various characters together while going by the original plot (maybe a little deviation). The good combination of horror and comedy is very much evident that makes this even more entertaining.
While I have not watched many Bengali (Bangla) language movies, I still can see that Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy has some of the finest actors to do justice to the film. A must watch indeed for kids as well as adults.
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