''Ahalya'' is a 2015 Indian mystery thriller

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Sujoy Ghosh Sujoy Ghosh is an Indian film director, actor, producer, and screenwriter who works in Hindi films. He has directed ''Jhankaar Beats'' (2003), '' Home Delivery: Aapko... Ghar Tak'' (2005), '' Aladin'' (2009), ''Kahaani'' (2012), ''Kahaani 2'' (2 ...

with

Radhika Apte Radhika Apte (born 7 September 1985) is an Indian actress. She works predominantly in Hindi films, and has appeared in a few Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, Bengali, and English-language films. She began acting in theatre and made her film debut with a ...

, Soumitra Chatterjee and

Tota Roy Chowdhury Tota Roy Chowdhury is an Indian actor and martial artist based in Kolkata. He predominantly appears in Bengali and Hindi cinema. His notable roles include Feluda in the web TV series Feluda Pherot based on Satyajit Ray's Feluda series. He ma ...

playing the lead roles.

Plot

A young police officer, Indra Sen arrives at the home of famous ageing artist, Goutam Sadhu, to investigate the case of a missing man named Arjun. There, he is greeted by Goutam's young and beautiful wife Ahalya, whom he had taken to be daughter of Goutam Sadhu. Indra sees an array of realistic looking dolls on a mantlepiece, and notices that one looks almost identical to Arjun. A stone, which is encased in glass, is also placed there. One

doll A doll is a model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and wood are foun ...

falls over, and Ahalya chastises the figure before placing back with the others. She attributes this sudden movement to wind from the ceiling fan. Ahalya serves tea to the men and subtly flirts with Indra in Goutam's presence, while Goutam's distracted. She then returns upstairs to her room but forgets her mobile phone on the table. Indra asks Goutam about Arjun, a model who has not been seen since working for the artist. Goutam tells Indra that the stone in the glass case has magical qualities and that anybody who touches it turns into whosoever he or she wishes. He tells Indra that Arjun knew of the stone and suggests that he may have used it. Indra does not believe him initially but agrees to try it. Ahalya calls down to her husband to bring her mobile phone to her. Goutam instructs Indra to hold the stone and imagine himself to be Goutam, taking the mobile phone up to Ahalya. He does so. Entering the bedroom, Indra sees himself as he truly is, but his mirror reflection is that of Goutam. Ahalya speaks to Indra as if he were her husband, and instructs him to get rid of the

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

, and hurry back to bed with her. Indra steps into the hallway momentarily, but then returns to the room to romantically embrace Ahalya. The scene cuts away to Indra being in a dark area, restrained and unable to move. His screams are unheard, as he is now trapped within a new doll, which sits with the collection of other dolls on the mantlepiece. As he struggles, his doll falls over, and is picked up and chastised by Ahalya. The film ends with the restrained Indra hopelessly screaming in the dark area within the doll.

Cast

as Ahalya, based on the Hindu epic character Ahalya. * Soumitra Chatterjee as Goutam Sadhu, an artist and Ahalya's husband, based on the sage

Gautama Maharishi Gautama Maharishi ( sa, महर्षिः गौतम, ), was a sage in Hinduism, who is also mentioned in Jainism and Buddhism. Gautama is mentioned in the Yajurveda, Ramayana, and Gaṇeśa Pūrana and is known for cursing his wife Ah ...

. *

as the Policeman Indra Sen, based on the god Indra. *

Ayushman Mitra Ayushman Mitra is an Indian fashion designer, painter, and actor from Kolkata. He is the owner of fashion label Bobo Calcutta and was a featured GenNext designer at Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2018. Early life Mitra was born in Kolkata, ...

as Arjun.

Inspirations

The film takes elements from the story of Ahalya from ''

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

'' but crafts a modern version of it with a spin. In the original tale the young and beautiful Ahalya is seduced by Indra (the king of the gods), and is cursed by much older husband sage Gautama to turn into a stone. But in the retelling of the story in the film, the punishment is visited on the character based on Indra alone, while the woman is shown to be an accomplice in the seduction game. The film has shades of The Collection, an episode from

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, sup ...

TV series and of Satyajit Ray's short story ''Professor Shonku and Strange Dolls'' (Professor Shonku O Ashchorjo Putul) and also of

Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' (play), a 1996 drama by Joshua Sobol about Alma ...

, an animated short film.

Sequel

Director Ghosh told media that there will be a sequel to this film, which was scheduled to release in February 2017.

References

External links