One cannot discuss Chatrak without addressing the elephant in the room. The film gained massive notoriety in India due to a frontal nude scene involving actor Paoli Dam.
Before the film’s release, leaked clips of the scene went viral. In a conservative industry like Bengali cinema (Tollywood), this caused an uproar. The media frenzy overshadowed the film’s Cannes selection, reducing a complex arthouse drama to "the film with the bold scene." Chatrak Bengali Movie
However, looking back a decade later, the controversy feels misplaced. The scene in question is not gratuitous; it serves as a raw, vulnerable juxtaposition to the sterility of the high-rise apartments and the decay of the old city. It was a bold artistic choice by Jayasundara to showcase the "naked" truth of human existence, stripped of societal conditioning. One cannot discuss Chatrak without addressing the elephant
More than a decade later, Chatrak remains a fascinating anomaly in Bengali film history. In an era of remakes and formulaic hits, Jayasundara delivered a film that feels like a fever dream. It is a stark reminder that great cinema can exist outside the realm of comfort. For viewers willing to abandon their expectations of linear narrative and embrace a slow, symbolic journey, Chatrak offers a uniquely haunting experience—one where the mushrooms grow, the machines roar, and a brother waits silently in the woods, reminding us of all we have left behind. To understand the weight of Chatrak , one
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5 - for lovers of art cinema and ecological allegory)
To understand the weight of Chatrak, one must look at the talent behind it.
Chatrak is a film to be seen and felt rather than just followed. Cinematographer Chintan Rajani bathes Kolkata in a pallid, grey light. The construction site is a muddy, chaotic mess, while the forest is dark and teeming with an unseen life. The sound design is masterful—the constant drone of construction machinery, the squelch of mud, the whisper of wind through trees—creating an immersive, claustrophobic soundscape.
