9 ways Sujoy Ghosh's Ahalya ticks all the right boxes

Spoilers ahead. If you haven't watched the short yet, stay away from this listicle.


1. The underutilized actors:
No, we arent talking about Soumitra Chatterjee. But Radhika Apte and Tota Roy Chowdhury are definitely actors we want to see more on our screens, be it in regional cinema or in Bollywood blockbusters. While Bollywood's indie-adjacent scene has already discovered the genius of Radhika Apte, Tota has made his presence felt in Tollywood and the south film industry. However, when it comes to mainstream BO-targeted ventures, These two can definitely make for high grossers.

— Sutapa Singha

2. The duration.
The fact that Ahalya can be watched while having lunch, or when the boss goes out for a smoke, or when the professor is late for the next class, is what is making it tick, with the right audience. It's cryptic, to-the-point and a 14-minute mark successfully gets the audience's interest to peak at a steady level, making the climax as hard hitting as it is.

3. The supernatural element.
Who doesn't like a little mystery in life. And when it's one that's generously sprinkled with super-natural element, that's just the cherry on the top. Human beings are intrinsically attracted to things that we can't explain. And a stone with magic powers? Well, that's something that can definitely keep us glued to the screens. Moreover, in the scene that the magic stone is first introduced by Mr Sadhu's character, we are almost laughing at the ridiculousness of his claim, partaking in Inspector Indra's journey towards doom!

4. The epic interest
Epics. They are like fairytales for the grownups. Ramayana and Mahabharata have always featured in the list of bestsellers, thus proving that however much we decode and deconstruct these epics with the employment of all kinds of literary theories, our interest in them still doesn't fade.

5. Finally, calling out the sexism in a revered epic.
Here's one person who commits a blasphemy, and still manages to say out aloud, exactly what needed to be said. When a woman is raped, it's not the woman's fault. Period. You can be the God, you can be lesser mortals like us all, but none of that can absolve you of your crime. And we need to set that straight.

6. Sujoy's mastery in keeping the mystery alive
As he proved with Kahaani once, and as he proves once again with Ahalya. The mystery starts right at the first shot. The whiff of a crime, missing person's case, mysterious dolls (we all love mysterious dolls, right or right?), a very old man with a very young and attractive wife... it has all the elements of spinning a scrumptious web. Sujoy's mastery lies in the way he binds all of them together.

7. The background score
It's minimalistic. Keeping with the duration, the plot and the tone of the film. Nabarun Bose used the Rabindrasangeet, Esho esho amar ghore, to set the tone for the film with this alluring number which almost sounds like a charm of hypnotism. "I wanted to create a soundscape which would be high on the 'eerie' quotient. So the tones were heavily modulated and some of the sounds were tweaked and messed around with. The heavy sub-bass creates a feeling of suffocation. Rishabh Ray's edgy guitar brings a feeling of unrest," said Nabarun, the composer. The circumstantial humdrum of everyday life only adds to the conflict.

8. The camera work.
Sujoy calls Setu, the man behind the camera, a magician. And we agree. The entire 14 minutes makes heavy use of a sun-kissed tone, in stark contrast to the dark theme of the story. Close, focused shots capture the expressions, (or the intentional lack of it) on Radhika's face to perfection. The lack of a steady camera angle or shot, keeps the immediacy alive.

9. Clever use of Aristotelian principles.
There's the plot-line, the hubris, the anagnosis and the catharsis. Indra's fall is a direct result of his own actions — just how Aristotelian principles demand of a tragedy. His hubris, the fault in his character, is what brings along his doom. And in his anagnosis, or realization of his actions, lies the audience's catharsis, as he tries unsuccessfully to reverse the course of the day.