A spooky super-natural saga sprinkled with the elements of innocence, lust and deception; that is the 14 minute, spine-chilling Bengali thriller short film “Ahalya” set in Kolkata and released on the internet 3 days ago.
Since then, Sujoy Gosh’s edge-of-the-seat mini movie is garnering heaps of praises from the critics and boasts around 1.1 million hits on YouTube till date.
A venture of Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Film, Ahalya has spell-bound everyone in India’s entertainment industry and has been derived from a fascinating tale of the legendary Hindu mythology, Ramayana.
According to the fable, the Lord Brahama created Ahalya as the most beautiful lady in the world. But she was seduced by the God of Thunder, Indra and was turned into a stone as a punishment for infidelity by her sage husband Gautama.
Watch the short film here.
[dailymotion id=”x2yq5k0″]
To bring a contemporary twist to the tale and a powerful sense of enigma, Sujoy tweaks the plot in the film by depicting a young and vivacious Ahalya, played by Radhika Apte and an old age sculptor Gautama played by Soumitra Chatterjee, as a scheming couple.
Right from the first shot, the short film cultivates an air of a mystery and the whiff of a trickery. The cryptic movie opens with a policeman Indra, played by Tota Roy Chowdhury who visits the artists home to question him about the whereabouts of a missing person.
Seemingly, Ahalya exploits her sultry looks to lure the cop towards her like a siren. Indra easily gets into her tempting trance like many other men before him and eventually lands himself into a curse of forever being petrified into creepy dolls of stone.
The film is being lauded for fantastically stirring up a tantalizing modern flavor in a very alarming ancient myth. Everyone is looking beyond the language hosted by the movie and are appreciating the story.
Read what Indian celebrities reviewed about Ahalya on Twitter.
T 1939 – https://t.co/Vf3X5ODTMW … the magic of short films .. Sujoy Ghosh .. brilliant !!
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) July 23, 2015
Super! Twisted! Like an eerie twilight zone in kolkatta! Fab work by @radhika_apte @sujoy_g take a bow! #Ahalya https://t.co/6Rh0wWrgef — Vivek Oberoi (@vivek_oberoi) July 21, 2015
Let’s get this brilliant film by @sujoy_g – a Million views- #Ahalaya https://t.co/yNVwW0D33Z https://t.co/jPBDWEpfBf
— Riteish Deshmukh (@Riteishd) July 22, 2015
Radhika Apte is the actor to watch. Sensual, sensitive, superb. Ahalya. A must see interpretation of a powerful myth. — Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) July 21, 2015
Oh god @sujoy_g I saw your short film in the middle of the night!!! Am still awake!! https://t.co/rbR1VaS9bH brilliance!!!
— Karan Johar (@karanjohar) July 25, 2015
While Ahalya has generated a lot of buzz over social media, a request has been filed by Bajrang Joshi, the President of Jodhpur wing of a Hindu Organization to get the short film banned from YouTube.
What do you think about the short film Ahalya? Share your veiws in the comments below.
