By: Goher Iqbal Punn
Friday, September 09, 2005

Banner: Think 16
Producer: Amitabha Singh
Director: Bappaditya Roy
Cast: Mammoothy, Lilette Dubey, Vikram Gokhale and Joy Sengupta
Musician: Fazal Qureshi

Popular cinematographer Amitabha Singh (known for his ventures in the fields of feature films, advertising and corporate films) turned producer is geared up to launch his psychological thriller drama, Sau Jhooth Ek Sach in India on 16th September all over the country.  The movie has won huge accolades and awards in various film festivals in the country and around the world already such as 2nd Public Award, New Asian Cinema Category at Lyon, France, Competition Nomination, IFFK, Kerala, Competition Nomination, IFFM, Mumbai and Official Invitation, PIFF, Pune respectively. The film has been produced under the famous banner of Think 16, the production company that is represented by Amitabha Singh and is very instrumental in making feature films, ad films and music videos.

Bappaditya Roy, the coveted personality of the filmdom, has been actively involved with many advertising, documentary and corporate film projects and who has directed The Philosopher Athlete - a biographical documentary film made on the legendary king of parallel cinema Naseeruddin Shah, has directed this outing, Sau Jhooth Ek Sach. The leading and talented names of the film and television industry have been roped in to feature in this enterprise ranging from Mammootty (the actor laced with three national awards, five state awards and five filmfare awards), Lilette Dubey (Zubeeda, Lakshya, Baghbaan and Monsoon Wedding fame decently fine actress), Vikram Gokhale (coveted TV-film actor) to Joy Sengupta (who entice the viewers with his small screen performances and allured the audiences with the movie Hazar Chorasi Ki Maa) in the central roles. The film has originally been made in Hindi but it would be available also in English, French and Spanish sub-titles.

This psychological thriller opens with an evening, like many other evenings, the family of a leading industrialist Vikrant Pradhan (Vikram Gokhle) hosts a sumptuous party for a gathering of socially well-known people and they have reasons to be pleased about.

Launch of a unique wine under their brand name and daughter Zoya's proposed marriage in the large Khanna industrial house add a new high to their sense of achievement and well-being. The fact that there is inherent discord within the family could not remain hidden for long, though. After all the guests have left and as the Pradhan family slips slowly in a slumber of their minds, they have a visitor. An uninvited.

Inspector Vivek (Mammootty) enters the Pradhan household without an appointment because he is on duty, investigating a suicide case. An unknown pregnant girl has ended her life by hanging herself from ceiling fan in a room of a little known chawl. Baffled by suggestion of being linked with the incident and shocked by the thought of being responsible for death of a person surviving at the outermost fringe of their vision of society, Vikrant Pradhan, and his family give in to the interrogation reluctantly. As the evening turns into night and as the night grows deeper and deeper, the questions posed by Inspector Vivek prod to uncover some of the darkest secrets held within minds of every member of Pradhan family.

As if under a hypnotic spell of Inspector Vivek, every individual makes a journey through dark and remote corridors of their mind. As if hazy layers of time subside to play images after images from the past. As if Inspector Vivek holds a magical mirror in front of every member to help reveal an unknown facet of their personality. Towards the end of this journey, it becomes quite evident, that each of the characters is directly or indirectly, morally or actually, responsible for the suicide. Bare as the characters stand, to themselves and to each other, Inspector Vivek leaves them in a state of psychological vacuum. Left on their own, the family shares visions of their past to get rudely shaken out of their slumber as they realize that all along, they were talking about five different girls, believing that it was about a single girl! Which meant that they were responsible for an act of injustice not just to a single person, but to five different persons, at different times, at different places!

After the forces of logic and reason take over and after their internal strife is settled, the family tries to put the incidents of that evening together. It does not take them long to tap their wide and far reaching resources in order to establish the identity of Inspector Vivek.

But, to their surprise, they get to know that there is no police officer in their zone with a name of Inspector Vivek, that there was no suicide incident in the city befitting the description given by Inspector, and above all, there were no visitors to the house since its main gates got closed after the party. So, who was this Uninvited Visitor? And where did he come from?!! They will have to wait for the dawn.

Next morning, unlike any other morning before, Pradhan's family reads a news article of a suicide case in a completely new light... an unknown pregnant girl has ended her life by hanging herself from ceiling fan in a room of a little known chawl... She does not seem unknown, any longer. Next phone call, unlike any other phone call before, brings a different message in the voice which speaks... it's a police inspector on the other side... He does not sound uninvited, any more.

It's a new dawn. They have just woken up.

Neha Dubey (Monsoon Wedding fame lass) and Kiran Janjani (the model turned actor who debuted in Tijori's Oops and now working in various Hindi flicks) fills the supporting cast. Bappaditya Roy also uses his mind to scribble down the script of the film together with Pankaj Kapoor. Amitabha Singh buttons up his usual job of cinematography whereas Aseem Sinha (famous for editing award winning films Mammo and Sardari Begum) is the editor of this venture. Indrajit Neogi, who won the National Award as the Best Sound Recordist for the documentary  "Maihaar Raag', is the sound recordist of this movie. Parimal Ranjit dolls up the art direction. Fazal Qureshi, the man who belongs to the famous classical gharana of India and is the son of most respected tabla player late Ustad Allah Rakha and the brother of the genius internationally famed tabla player Ustad Zakir Hussain, stockpiles the tunes for the film's album.

Sau Jhooth Ek Sach is slated for 16th September release to hit the theaters. 

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