Director: Debaloy Bhattacharya
Screenplay: Debaloy Bhattacharya
Production: SVF
Script : Debaloy Bhattacharya
Kallol Lahiri
Music : Amit Chatterjee
Ishan Mitra
Saqi
Durjoy
Lead Casting: Anirban Bhattacharya, Mimi Chakraborty, Bidipta Sengupta, Rudranil Ghosh, Kanchan Mullick, Supriyo Dutta
Release Date: 21 October 2020
Language: Bengali
Running Time: 2 Hours 7 Minutes
Genre: Crime / Thriller
Certification : UA
Dracula Sir, the recently most talked about Tollywood movie of 2020, has finally released in selected theaters with 50% occupancy. The movie belongs to the genre of horror thriller. The makers of this film also planning Pan India release of Dracula Sir in Hindi version.
Much before the release, Dracula Sir raised high curiosity among the Bangla movie loving audience for projecting Anirban Bhattacharya in a sinister ‘Dracula’ avatar through the teasers that were released just before the movie hit the theaters.
Built on the backdrop of the famous Naxalbari movement of West Bengal of 1970s, the story of Dracula Sir revolves around themes of revolution, rebellion and love. The storyline of Dracula Sir has been presented through a non-linear structure where the audience will experience moving back to 70s to peep into the life of a rebellious Naxalite Amol Some and then returning to the present to find a petty primary school teacher Raktim Chowdhury.
The catch in this Bangla movie is the pair of queer protruding canines of an unconfident temporary school teacher Raktim. These Dracula-like teeth of Raktim, which makes him bullied and victimized everywhere, has been used as prop for making the audience ponder on the root cause behind the abnormality.
As the storyline matures, the audience gets to know how these teeth link the two births to tell the story of rebirth. Hence, to discover this link, you have to watch the movie.
Anirban Bhattacharya has proved his versatility as an actor again in this Bangla film. The poise and the inner trauma of a rebellious Naxalite Amol has been brilliantly contrasted with the shakiness and submissiveness of Raktim by Anirban. Certainly, it is a must watch movie for people who are fond of Anirban’s acting.
Mimi Chakraborty needs appreciation in the movie too for moving out of her usual cocoon and putting herself in a completely different role. Though not a Mimi movie in particular, it is definitely a must-watch if you want to see how intensely the actor has portrayed the role of the widow Manjari who is the ex-lover of Amol.
Bidipta Sengupta, Rudranil Ghosh and Supriyo Dutta also demand equal appreciation for doing justice to their roles. But Kanchan Mallick hardly have much scope in this Bangla movie.
The pale bluish smokey cinematography of Dracula Sir beautifully creates a sense of spookiness right from the first scene. The illusions of snow and blood created for the audience matches remarkably with the visual treatment of the movie.
Even though the selection of songs is limited to three, the lilting tune of each of the songs complement perfectly with the mystical ambience of the movie. Dracula Sir also comes as a surprise for the fans of Anirban Bhattacharya who adore him as a singer too; the song ‘Priyotoma’ by Anirban is definitely going to make them mesmerized.
However, it has to be admitted simultaneously that the flashback mode used in the Bangla film and portrayal of two completely juxtaposed characters might initially appear bit difficult to understand for people who would watch the film without doing basic homework on the core story. But then, as the movie proceeds this ambiguity vanishes and the plot would become quite easily understandable.
While there are lots of pros to talk about in this movie, there are cons too. The movie gets more complicated after the interval. The storyline creates several loose ends at this part which would make the audience remain bewildered till the end. But to look at it from a positive angle, these loose ends would encourage the audience to interpret the story from their own standpoints instead of moving along the thought process of the director or the script writer.
This saga of rebirth, rebellion and love is a must watch for the audience that wants to think and retrospect after watching a movie than crave for sheer entertainment. So, it is necessary to realize that this Bangla movie is more suited for a specific niche of audience than the general public.
The last thing that must be mentioned about the movie is the core message that it gives; if you are confident, your deformities and abnormalities would cease to take over your personality.
Reviewed by
Apara Bhattacharya