Athhoi

Athhoi is a 2024 Bengali language romantic tragedy film directed by Arna Mukhopadhyay. The film stars Anirban Bhattacharya, Arna Mukhopadhyay and Sohini Sarkar in the lead roles. Produced by Jyoti Deshpande, Shrikant Mohta and Mahendra Soni under the banner of SVF and Jio Studios, the film is a contemporary retelling and modern adaptation of the epic Othello by William Shakespeare.

It marked the directorial debut of Arna Mukhopadhay. Anirban Bhattacharya worked as the lyricist and creative director of the film. Amit Chatterjee did the music while Sanglap Bhowmik handled the editing. It was released in the theatres on 14 June 2024 to positive reviews from the audience and mixed reviews from the critics.

Plot
The film is set in a village called Vinsura, a unknown geographical location with a disruptive bio-diverse backdrop. Athhoi (Arna Mukhopadhyay) is a Dalit who comes to Bhinsura with his widowed mother. He has faced the wrath of "upper castes" and was always afraid of events like when his grandmother was burnt at the stake as people called her to be a witch. After he lost his mother due to poverty and malnutrition, Gogo's (Anirban Bhattacharya) father, who was the local landlord, gave Athhoi shelter at his mansion. Despite not having any blood relationship, he provided him proper education and always taught him never lose faith in human. Despite wearing Gogo's rejected clothes, he excelled Gogo in every field; n studies, football and even romance.

Athhoi grew up, came to Calcutta and met Diyamona aka Diya (Sohini Sarkar). They fell in love with each other. But Diya's father (Kaushik Banerjee) didn't approve this relationship because Athhoi belonged from a "lower caste". Despite of her father's objection, she married Athhoi. Anguished, he cursed Athhoi that if a daughter can betray her own father, then one day the same betrayal is waiting for Athhoi. By this time, both Gogo and Athhoi had become doctors. While Gogo pursued cancer research in USA, Athhoi dreamt of building a healthcare centre in the village. He was determined to become a doctor and provide medication to the people at low cost, because he did not want any one else to die due to poverty, malnutrition and inavailability of proper treatment like his own mother.

In the mean time, Gogo became jealous of Athhoi's fame and success, and planned to take revenge. He was determined to prove him evil in front of the whole village. He returned To Vinsura from US and maliciously ignited jealousy in Athhoi. In the vail of a good old friend, Gogo conspired to break the happy family of Athhoi. He constantly filled Diya's mind with false words which made her suspicious against her husband Athhoi. It lead to falling down of their well organized family.

Cast

 * Anirban Bhattacharya as Anagra Chatterjee aka Gogo reprising Iago
 * Arna Mukhopadhyay as Athhoi Lodha reprising Othello
 * Sohini Sarkar as Diyamona 'Diya' Mukherjee reprising Desdemona
 * Ditipriya Roy as Pinki reprising Bianca
 * Arpan Ghoshal as Mukul reprising Cassio
 * Kaushik Banerjee as Diyamona's father reprising Brabantio
 * Mimi Dutta as Mili reprising Emilia
 * Sumit Panja as Radu reprising Roderigo

Announcement
On 4 December 2023, the film was announced by SVF on their social media handles, along with the name of the lead cast.

Development and Filming
On 19 April 2024, an announcement video featuring Anirban Bhattacharya, Sohini Sarkar and Arna Mukhopadhyay was dropped on the SVF Youtube channel. Shot on a black and white colour palette, the video also informed the release date of the film - 14 June 2024. The filming was started from 13 December 2023.

Marketing
The first poster featuring Bhattacharya, Sarkar and Mukhopadhyay was released on 20 April 2024. The teaser of the film was released on 1 May 2024 on the Youtube channels of SVF and Jio Studios.

The trailer was released on 6 June 2024 on the same Youtube channels. The trailer was launched at an event at Kolkata Centre for Creativity, Kolkata. Prosenjit Chatterjee, Rukmini Maitra, Parambrata Chattopadhyay and Anupam Roy were present as special guests at the event.

Soundtrack
Amit Chatterjee did the music of the film while Anirban Bhattacharya penned the lyrics. The first single "Bohu Bohu Din Pore" was released on 24 May 2024. Sung by Durnibar Saha and Ikkshita Mukherjee, it received critical acclaim. The second single "Mondo Hoye Jaa" was released on 22 June 2024.

Release
The film was released in the theaters on 14 June 2024. SVF and Jio Studios jointly produced the film, while SVF acquired the distribution rights.

Reception
Poorna Banerjee of Times of India rated the film 3 out of 5 stars. She termed it as "a stoic interpretation of the Shakespearean classic". She criticised the too much screen presence of Anirban Bhattachrya, which takes the attention away from the plot, but praised the strong performance of the cast, the cleverly penned music and the well designed sets.

Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri of The Telegraph reviewed the film on a negative note. He termed the excessive presence to be "overbearing is his presence that everything else is put to the shade – including Athhoi". He praised the sets, cinematography and colour scheme but also mentioned that too much of exposition makes the film unnecessarily stretched.

Deborshi Bandyopadhyay of Anandabazar Patrika rated the film 7 out of 10 stars. He praised the seasoned acting of the lead cast, the colour palettes, the screenplay and cinematography but mentioned the film to be less effective as a film adaptation of a Shakespearean play.

Sayani Rana of Hindustan Times rated the film 4 out of 5 stars. She praised the direction, cinematography, lighting colour palette and fourth wall breaking by Anirban. But she mentioned that the length could have bveen curtailed.

Shamayita Chakraborty of OTTplay rated the film 3 out of 5 stars. She mentioned that too much of Anirban Bhattacharya staggers the magical charm created by Soumik Haldar’s cinematography. She praised their acting, music, BGM but criticised the lack of empathy, poor writing and execution.

Souvik Saha of Cine Kolkata rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars. He termed it as "a bold experiment in the Bengali film industry". Besides praising the music and cinematography, he criticised the over emphasis on the character of Gogo, portrayal of women, depthless character development and forced social commentary.

Akash Misra of Sangbad Pratidin reviewed the film on a positive note. He praised the intricate acting of Anirban Bhattacharya and all the other cast and visually appealing cinematography.