Death in the Gunj (Konkana Sen Sharma)

A Death in the Ganj is wonderfully cast. Tillotama Shome plays Bonnie, Nandu’s wife, who probably knows one Bengali song, Salil Chowdhury’s Dhitang dhitang bole. She gets a great scene where she reacts to Vikram’s gold-bedecked Khasi bride with a mixture of contempt and political correctness. Jim Sarbh plays another family friend, Brian. Kalki gets a hilarious sex scene where her exertions slide the folded paper out from under the unsteady leg of a chair. Through her, we see another pitiful shade of Shutu, when he wheels out Vikram’s bike to her doorstep because he knows she wants to ride it. People with very little self-worth are prone to do these things, in the hope that the person at the other end will see them as helpful rather than pathetic. This is one of the finest character studies I’ve seen.