FestivalSaints
Tasher Ghawr

(House of Cards)

47min  |  Bengali  |  Drama

Sujata, a housewife of an upper-middle-class family stuck between the world that is around and within her. This is the story of her world her home and her search, for her "self". Will she be able to find what she is looking for?
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Synopsis

The story revolves around Sujata, a middle-aged housewife residing in Kolkata with her husband during the COVID19 lockdown phase in April 2020. Sujata's world comprises of her apartment that she has converted into her home and workshop for mundane household chores. She enjoys the role of a homemaker, cooking and baking makes her happy, cleaning and taking care of the nitty-gritty of her small world makes her otherwise introverted life more meaningful.However, this lockdown has forced her husband's uneasy presence in the house. She hates it! She is more of herself when her husband is out for work. Sujata knows her husband is a part of a new affair and his return from work and romance would give her more time to be in her own company. This lockdown has otherwise made it difficult for her. She doesn't like how her husband would order and criticise her cooking and the air of negativity in the house. Sujata is held responsible for the recent mishap of her mother-in-law. Her husband has assaulted her more than once but she made no complaints.Present-day, we see Sujata doing different chores of her house and simultaneously talking to the audience about these incidents of her life. She seems disturbed in between because of some rats that made her house their own. She seems to be okay talking to people and things that don't give a reply back to her, so the rats were not a problem at first when they were few but now they have increased in number and seem to reply back in their own voices. For the same reason, she says, she likes talking to the plants and even does the same with the audience. She also talks of her recent miscarriage and how she can hear them in the whispers of some new plant that she bought when everyone around is silent. Amidst all these, she keeps on mentioning her obsessions with different smells and how she feels that every smell has its own colour. While talking to the audience she is baking two batches of cupcakes, one with rat poison to kill the rats and one batch for her husband. Her husband is working throughout and demands for his food after a while keeps increasing. Sujata's stories and narration comprises of the recent past and some old memories.We see Sujata telling the audience about how she got beaten up before the lockdown due to her irresponsibility towards her mother-in-law before she died. She also talks about her husband's external affair but she was happy to spend all time by herself at home before the lockdown. She understands his frustration staying at home, without meeting his girlfriend for such a long time now. She would lament and have a stiff jaw when she mentions how her husband rides on her every night and rapes her, even though he has an issue with his girlfriend's husband touching her at any time during this phase of lockdown.However, she has plans that can set her free...

Credits

director: Sudipto Roy

producer: Sudipto Roy

cast: Swastika Mukherjee, Judhajit Sarkar

Story: Sahana Dutta

Screenplay: Sudipto Roy

Cinematography: Ayan Sil

Editor: Pabitra Jana

BGM: Amit & Ishan

Sound Design & Mixing: Adeep & Anindit