Shastri

About the film

Shastri () is a 2024 Indian Bengali-language fantasy action comedy film directed by Pathikrit Basu. Produced by Soham Chakraborty, Nispal Singh and Bajrang Lal Churiwala under the banners of Surinder Films, Soham's Entertainment and Creative Solutions Pvt Ltd respectively, the film is based on Debarati Mukhopadhyay's short story Dolgobindo Babur Chashmah. It stars Mithun Chakraborty in the titular role, alongside an ensemble cast consisting of Soham Chakraborty, Debashree Roy, Rajatava Dutta, Anirban Chakraborty, Saswata Chatterjee, Kaushik Sen, Sauraseni Maitra and Ayush Das in pivotal roles. Delved into the theme of astrology versus science, the film plots Parimal, a factory worker, gets the power to see the future, changing his life's trajectory after facing massive hardships due to the sudden loss of his job. The film marked the comeback of Debasree Roy in Bengali cinema after a long hiatus.

The film was officially announced in October 2023, marking the twelfth collaboration between the pair Mithun Chakraborty and Debashree Roy. Principal photography commenced in February 2024, with filming taking place in Kolkata. The soundtrack and background score were composed by Indraadip Dasgupta, with the lyrics penned by Srijato. The screenplay of the film was written by Aritra Banerjee, while the dialogues were by Arnab Bhaumik, with cinematography handled by Gopi Bhagat and editing by MD. Kalam.

Production

During the promotion of Kachher Manush (2022), in an interview it was revealed by Pathikrit Basu that he was eager to direct Mithun Chakraborty in a film for a long time. He had previously mentioned his admiration of Chakraborty's work, noting the actor's films Mrigayaa (1976) and Tahader Katha (1992). During the post-production of Basu's next Dabaru (2024), Soham Chakraborty's production house Soham's Entertainment signed him to direct a film for the studio. Then both Soham and Basu chose a short story named Dolgobindo Babur Chashmah written by Debarati Mukhopadhyay, which itself was a part of Mukhopadhyay's book Nirbachito 42. Both of them narrated the script to Mithun Chakraborty in July 2023. After making some changes in the script as per his instructions, Chakraborty agreed to sign the film.

The film's official announcement poster was released on 16 October 2023, having Mithun Chakraborty's voice reciting some lines from Rabindranath Tagore's devotional poem Bhakti Bhajan, in which the film's title was revealed to be Shastri.

Surinder Films and Creative Solution Pvt Ltd were revealed to be the co-producers of the film in November 2023. Both Soham Chakraborty and Pathikrit Basu chose Indraadip Dasgupta as the music director of the film. Cinematographer Gopi Bhagat was included as a part of the crew members. Pathikrit Basu retained some of the crew members from his previous films, which included screenwriter Aritra Banerjee (who runs a YouTube channel named Aritra's Gyan), and editor MD Kalam both of whom worked with him in Dabaru, and dialogue writer Arnab Bhaumik, who worked with him in Kachher Manush. Both Banerjee and Bhaumik felt that one of the main challenges was spending a month to come up with the idea for the interval and climax sequence in a specific manner, where Mithun Chakraborty would be portrayed as a cool demeanor and also would have been observed to perform a high-octane action sequence respectively; and also setting the character to be more interesting, a contrast from Chakraborty's films. They added that Chakraborty will be also felicitated in the film through some memorable dialogues delivered by himself from his previous blockbusters Guru (2003), MLA Fatakeshto (2006), Abhimanyu (2006), Tulkalam (2007) and Ami Subhash Bolchhi (2011).

Marketing

On 1 February 2024, a poster that revealed the film's official release date was unveiled by the makers. The first look poster was released on 7 September on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. A motion poster was released on 17 September featuring Mithun Chakraborty and Soham Chakraborty who symbolize the rivalry between astrology and astrophysics respectively. On 23 September, the film's trailer was released with a trailer launch event at PVR Mani Square.

Release

The film was released in the theatres on 8 October 2024, on the occasion of Durga Puja.

Reception

Suparna Majumder of Sangbad Pratidin reviewed the film and wrote "No one else could have played this character better than Mithun." She praised the acting, the chemistry and emotions between the lead but criticized the unnecessary songs.

Debolina Ghosh of Ei Samay rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and praised Pathikrit's direction, Mithun's performance, acting of the other cast, the music and the cinematography.

Debarshi Bandyopadhyay of Anandabazar Patrika rated the film 7 out of 10 stars and wrote "The film depicts a battle between astrology and logic." He praised the acting of the whole cast. He said Mithun was the best choice for this role but his eyes were not expressive enough at certain instances.

Key details