The narrative is deceptively simple. A successful architect, Rahul (Rudranil Ghosh in a career-defining raw performance), returns to Kolkata from Paris. He is ostensibly there for work, but his primary mission is to find his brother, the volatile and reckless artist, Sonny (Anubrata Basu). Sonny has disappeared into the underbelly of the city’s urban development—the unfinished, skeletal high-rises on the fringes of the Salt Lake region.
In an era of climate crisis and urban collapse, Chatrak feels less like an experimental oddity and more like a prophecy. It predicted the anxiety of the post-pandemic world—the fear of invisible spores, the fragility of concrete jungles, and the realization that the "wild" is not outside the city gates; it is in the damp corner of your bathroom. Chatrak Bengali Movie
The film was directed by Vimukthi Jayasundara , who previously won the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for his film The Forsaken Land (2005). The cinematography was handled by Channa Deshapriya , whose work in "dirty colors and dim lights" creates a bleak, depressed visual aesthetic that defines the film's tone. The music was composed by Roman Dymmy, and the film was produced by Vinod Lahoti. The narrative is deceptively simple
Today, Chatrak holds a cult status of sorts. With a rating of approximately on IMDb, it is not universally loved; however, it remains a fascinating case study in Indian parallel cinema. Sonny has disappeared into the underbelly of the
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.
The title Chatrak (Mushrooms) serves as a metaphor for the real estate developments sprouting rapidly and uncontrollably across the city—organisms growing out of decay without deep roots or structural planning. Themes and Cinematic Style
