Zombiesthaan Film Review
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Zombiesthaan Film Review
I had been eagerly anticipating the release of this movie on OTT for a long time, and it has finally arrived. Despite its limited budget, Writer-Director Abhirup Ghosh has placed a strong emphasis on the writing, which is commendable. Tanushree Chakraborty delivers a good performance, although her action sequences leave much to be desired. Rudranil Ghosh, as always, shines in his role. However, it is Rajatava Dutta who steals the show with his outstanding performance.
Unfortunately, the VFX and action sequences in the film didn't meet my expectations. They appeared rather comical, which was disappointing. If these two aspects had been better executed, the movie could have been something extraordinary. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of the zombie genre, you should not miss this film, especially for its strong writing.
In Ghosh’s film, however, the performances are far from zombie-like. In fact, the film carries some strong messages in the form of metaphors. One can easily see that in many ways the film is Ghosh’s own way of protest against everything that plagues our country today – from gaumutra to misogyny. However, despite the best of intentions and attempts, there are problems with the film. And they show. What I did like about the film, though, is the courage of the filmmaker, of having taken on an unconventional subject that seems to have eluded our screens for decades, and the gumption to see the project through, despite the clearly visible lack of funds.
The film is set more than a decade from present day, when a biochemical accident seems to have turned all exposed humans to flesh-eating zombies. The ones who were not exposed to the chemical seem to have survived. They are now trying to rebuild their lives amidst an ever-increasing population of the 'undead.' The protagonist – Akira – is one such individual. A strong, spirited and fearless woman, she believes in the notion that movement is life – a belief that makes her never spend two consecutive nights in the same place. In her search for a safe zone, which she fervently believes the government or the military must have built, her journey takes her through the now-vacant but still picturesque heartlands of Bengal, where she meets a number of survivors and a whole lot of carnivorous zombies, often wondering which of them are more dangerous.
Ghosh’s film is constantly watchable – I will give it that. The opening shot itself holds considerable promise. Some of the characters are very well written. There are parts of the film which made me sit up with a smile of pleasant surprise on my face. One such scene is the one in which a megalomaniac 'king' is introduced. There are glimpses of excellent ideas strewn all throughout the film, and that is what kept me glued on. The notion of a dictatorship, the plight of women in our country, the science of survival, the complacence with which we take our good fortunes for granted, class commentary, and the precedence that economics takes over religion – all of these are brilliant ideas worth exploring. Ghosh addresses several of them to some degree.
But here is an interesting simile to consider at this point in the review. You must have noticed when you are traveling on the highway, there has been no restaurant in sight for hours, and you finally find a dhaba, your primary concern becomes the availability of food – and not so much the ambiance of the place, the hygiene, the service or even the taste of the food. That is exactly what happened to me when I was watching Zombiesthaan.
There are such few movies of this kind that are made in India that I was literally gobbling up everything that was being offered to me. But somewhere at the back of my head, I was feeling a sense of discomfort. Because when it comes to the execution of the above mentioned ideas, there is much more that could have been done. And mind you, not all of it is about resources. Sharper editing, better writing, drawing better performances from one’s actors, and placing the camera in a better angle – none of these cost additional money. All of these can be executed well if one has the will and the aesthetic competency to do so. Unfortunately, the film lacks finesse. It lacks the polish and the treatment its ideas so richly deserved.
I would still recommend you watch Zombiesthaan though. If not for anything else, then for its uniqueness, at least in the realm of Bengali cinema. Because despite the fact there are problems in the execution, and despite some of the scenes which seem to draw on for far too long, one can easily see the entire team made a sincere attempt. I so eagerly hope they make a sequel out of this, and that next time around, they try harder. I’m going with two stars for Zombiesthaan, and an additional half a star for West Bengal’s first zombie horror film.