Bulbbul : A Review

(Major spoilers alert)

The latest Netflix original film, Bulbbul, from the house of Clean Slate Films is a dark folklore fable based in 19^th Century Bengal Presidency. The Anvita Dutt directorial debut has an ensemble cast oozing with talent across multiple facets of the art which comprises of Tripti Dimri, Avinash Tiwary, Rahul Bose, Paoli Dam and Parambrata Chattopadhyay. Produced by Anushka Sharma and her brother Karnesh, the story revolves around the life of Bulbbul (Tripti) who gets married to a much older man in Indranil(Rahul Bose) when she was five years old and grows to be the ever famous folklore character, ‘Chudail’.

Bulbbul, a five year old girl, gets married to decades older Indranil who happens to have two younger brothers in Mahendra(Rahul) and youngest Satya(Avinash). Satya being closer to her age, Bulbbul firstly assumed him to be her husband. Even after being rectified Bulbbul, quite naturally, gets more closer emotionally to Satya than to Indranil. Through their childhood to adulthood, Satya becomes Bulbbul’s confidant and creative partner. After the discovery of them getting closer, Satya’s brother Indranil decides to send Satya to London for studying Law. Being separated from Satya, Bulbbul is broken mentally. Indranil, who at least has a glimmer of conscious, gets hold of the writings Bulbbul and Satya exchanged within themselves and sets the demon inside him free. He brings upon a wrath of terror on her and beats her feet to pulp which also symbolize that the freedom in her movements is being taken away. Doctor Sudip(Parambrata), on being called and told that she ‘fell from stairs’ , he informs Indranil that it may take a year for her to get back to her feet.

These incidents had just initiated the end of the vulnerable and underconfident Bulbbul when being raped brutally by the mentally unstable Mahendra nails the final nail in the coffin. Mahendra, being an uncontrollable entity at most of the times turns out to be wild beast because of the influence around him all along. Binodini(Paoli), Mahendra’s wife, while nursing Bulbbul and erasing the evidence of her rape, gets political by telling her that she shall remain quiet for she would get luxury, silk and ‘respect’. She also depicts her compulsion through the line, “Bade Haveliyon me bade raaz hote hai…”

Indranil leaves the house after the incident. After five years of Indranil leaving, Satya returns to his ancestral home on getting the news of the mysterious death of his brother Mahendra by some witch, according to Binodini. After Satya’s arrival he gets to know about the deaths of men around the village by the same witch. While investigating about the killings, Satya notices how Bulbbul has got a new confidant in Sudip. Out of envy and some vague evidences, Satya decides to arrest Sudip as the person behind all the killings which is when the mystery of the witch unravels and she happens to be, and quite predictably so, Bulbbul. Sudip becomes the first man to know about her identity and being able to decipher the killings happens to develop devotion for her. Out of that devotion he tries to stop Satya from hunting her down and then is when the most important lines of the film are uttered,

“Rakshas nahi hai vo; devi hain.”

In the final scene Indranil returns to the home after receiving a letter from Satya stating how he never wants to be like him and is leaving the home because he already became like him. Indranil witnesses the re-emergence of Bulbbul from thin air which portrays how she is going to revenge her death.

Her eyes close in the wild fire depicting how her physical presence is destroyed but her identity will live on for years

Although having a predictable plot, the execution compensates for it. Performances being ornamented with pin point timings, brilliant acting and references to various incidents all along the length of the film help in enriching the cinematic experience.  The cinematography by Siddharth Diwan is rich, haunted and enigmatic with most scenes bathed in shades of red which symbolize the message of the film well enough. Being inspired by Raja Ravi Verma’s imagery, Diwan does a wonderful job in between the frames and provides a lush experience.

The opening scenes were immersed in crimson hues which symbolised celebration, fear and blood which was to be spilled

Amit Trivedi being at the helm of the musical part does an exceptional job by creating perfect background scores which get along perfectly with the story and add to the ruthlessness and inhumanity of the society and later on Bulbbul.

Bulbbul is a spooky grand-mom tale which doesn’t focus on the horrors of the blood sucking witch rather on the insanity and inhumanity of the ‘Manly’ society. In the earliest scenes when Bulbbul asks her aunt about the function of the toe-ring she explains that it is to press a certain nerve of the female body so that it doesn’t fly away. Later on, Binodini is also seen telling her to tighten her toe-rings which symbolizes an order for her to stop the frequent meetings with Satya.

The brutal rape of Bulbbul by the mentally unstable brother Mahendra designate an important moment in the film where the soft spoken, vulnerable and underconfident Bulbbul dies and comes alive again as the goddess of death. The moment of her rebirth is also decorated by Kaash-phools in her room.

The emergence of Kali inside Bulbbul brought about her ruthlessness towards the society which was inflicted upon women for years

She begins on her journey to provide judgements on the acts of cruelty being carried upon by various men in the village. On investigating about a certain death, the police officer tells Satya that according to the only witness to the incident, which happens to be a little girl, Kali, the Hindu Goddess of death has killed the man. Every act of enslavement and violence to women being inflicted on by their husbands is addressed by her for she once was the victim to it.

Bulbbul perfectly catches the tone of the injustices of the feudal world built on subjugation and enslavement of women. A well-mixed recipe of pre-Renaissance Bengal and desi horror Gothic fables, Bulbbul depicts how we let loose our inner demons in the society and hence the unthinkable and unimaginable has to intervene to take situations into their own hands. A horror drama whose spine is the message of feminism and curbing of uncontrolled male supremacy in the society the film serves its purposes well enough.

The film isn’t just a horror film but also a documentary of how our inner demons lead us towards our own destruction. A must watch.