I recently saw two films, the first an English film titled 7.39 and the second the above named Bangla film FALTU. The English film was centered around an extra-marital theme where a middle aged family man (with a wife, son and daughter) falls for a younger woman while commuting to work in London in a train scheduled at 7.39 in the morning. The younger woman is soon to marry her live-in fiancé. Passion runs high between the middle aged man and the younger woman gets pregnant. Who is the father of this baby? The middle aged man or the fiancé? At some point in the narrative this becomes a pertinent point
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This question finds resonance in the Bengali film FALTU. The film dates back to the 1950s and centers around a group of refugees who comes and settles in a Govt. owned land near Murshidabad in West Bengal. An insane woman(Indrani Halder) comes to the village Ranighat. Needless to say the lecherous man of the village exploit and rape her on several occasions. The mad woman gives birth to a child named FALTU and dies when FALTU is just three years old. The villagers love FALTU and brings him up showering their affection on him. FALTU becomes a bus driver.
When a Govt. survey was being conducted in the village and the data collector asked details about the father of FALTU, no one in the village comes up with an admission of being the old man of FALTU. When investigation starts on this skeletons keep tumbling out of the closet.
FALTU is also in love with a village girl. When a Govt. order is passed to construct a bridge for which the settlers of Ranighat would have to vacate their land and go off elsewhere the village elders convene a meeting and decides to arrange a marriage for FALTU before they leave the village forever.
All these developments lead to a tragic ending with an incestuous relationship to boot. FALTU gets to know his 'real father' but don't think a happy ending awaits you. The cast comprises Soumitro Chaterjee, Nirmal Chakraborty, Biplop Chatterjee, Debesh Debroy and others.
The film is directed by Anjan Das(Shanjbatir Rupkatara) and based on a story by Syed Mustafa Siraj.
Rating: 3.8 out of 5