'Political' films add a dash of glamour to West Bengal polls, focus on personalised tales
Times of India | 19 March 2026
KOLKATA: With West Bengal heading to the polls, Tollywood’s political cinema is trading traditional class analysis for a gritty look at individual agency and systemic failure.
While masters including Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Utpalendu Chakraborty, and Goutam Ghose focused on collective struggle and urban disillusionment in works such as 'Pratidwandi', 'Calcutta 71', 'Komal Gandhar', 'Kharij', 'Grihajuddha', 'Chokh', and 'Kaalbela', political films of contemporary directors including Arindam Sil’s 'Korpur' and Ranjan Ghosh’s 'Adamya' are chartering a different path.
Last January, Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Shotyi Bole Shotyi Kichhu Nei’ represented the rising Hindutva ideology through a character of a right-wing political activist who is a survivor of communal riots with strong, prejudiced views against Muslims. Raj Chakraborty’s ‘Hok Kolorob’ released this January.
The story explores the shocking death of a fresher allegedly caused by ragging at a city university hostel, reopening wounds and igniting urgent conversations about abuse, accountability, and a system that failed to protect its own.
This year has already seen the buzz over two political films. ‘Adamya’ starring Aryuun Ghosh is a character study of a young revolutionary forced into flight after a failed assassination attempt, examining the thin line between resistance and extremism.
According to its director, the essential difference of his film from that of the masters lies in the “shift from explicit ideological allegiance and collective socio-political critique” to a “highly personalized, existential, and psychological exploration of political action”.
“While the masters aimed at systemic critique and collective revolutionary consciousness, ‘Adamya’ focuses on the visceral experience of a single individual navigating the blurry line between rebellion and extremism in the contemporary, post-ideological era. The masters were concerned with class struggle, partition, and systemic change, often presenting a panoramic view of societal rot. ‘Adamya’ shifts the focus from the "movement" to the individual "mover" (Palash).
It is an existential film and a psychological journey, focusing on the desperate circumstances that fuel extremist action rather than a purely celebratory depiction of political violence. Also, the films of that era often used direct political messaging, agit-prop techniques, and sometimes overt ideological debate. ‘Adamya’ opts for a minimalist approach, utilizing visual and aural metaphors rather than prose-heavy narratives,” the director said.
He also added that the films of the masters were often intensely urban (mostly Kolkata), focusing on “middle-class despair” and ‘urban guerrilla warfare”. "Adamya” is set against the backdrop of the ‘treacherous’ Sunderbans, and uses the unforgiving landscape to turn the political thriller into “a survival drama of the early man”.
“It debunks the conventional narrative of the idyllic village life and depicts a rustic affair that is dark and dank instead of romantic and serene. The films of the masters were social-historical observations that functioned as a document of their time. ‘Adamya’ attempts to extend it to the universal and intentionally leaves questions unanswered. It invites the audience to decide whether the protagonist is an extremist or a patriot, aiming for a take that trusts the viewer’s reflection.
It carries the spirit of the 1970s political cinema by highlighting social injustice, but attempts to turn a political story into an intimate, introspective experience, contrasting with the louder, overtly ideological, and collective-focused films of the past masters,” 'Adamya’ director said.
Sil’s political thrillers, including ‘Dhananjoy’ and ‘Mahananda’, is different in both scope and purpose. They often come across as exposes of the Left Front regime. His latest, ‘Korpur’, releases on the same day as ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ - a Bollywood espionage thriller on political themes. On Wednesday, Sil began his speech at the special ‘Korpur’ screening with the line “we are not seeking revenge”.
The disclaimer insisted the film – based on Dipanwita Roy’s novel with Rituparna Sengupta, Saheb Chatterjee, Bratya Basu, Kunal Ghosh, Lahoma Bhattacharya and Arpan Ghoshal in the cast - as a work of fiction without any intention to “defame” anyone. “I would rather call it collateral damage. I have taken fictional liberties but the basic facts are true. Those responsible for the biggest scams of all times have to own up,” Sil told TOI.
Parallels between the screenplay of 'Korpur’and public records regarding the September 1997 disappearance of Calcutta University assistant controller Manisha Mukhopadhyay are hard to miss. The film raises questions regarding the appointment of an under-qualified individual to a primary administrative post within the university, examines her intimacy with a certain Left Front neta and exposes how money laundering, crime, and the politicization of the education system under the LF regime.
Education minister Bratya Basu, who plays a cop, said any work of art must attack the collective amnesia of the masses. “In the past, we often did not record instances of how absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is important for a film to expose the hypocrises of the Left Front. It will be good if it discomforts those supposed to feel uncomfortable with the truth,” Basu said.
‘Korpur’ marks the acting debut of politician Kunal Ghosh. "This is a very different political film. Not only is it a crime thriller, it also has many other emotional aspects. The film serves as a reminder and a record of what had happened in the past. Veteran journalist Sukharanjan Sengupta had documented the education scam in his book.
It is a fact that the then assistant controller who was close to the Left Front netas and who was responsible for so many things had mysteriously disappeared like camphor. What did the Left Front netas do with her? The facts are real and subsequently they have been adapted in literature and cinema,” Ghosh said. Both Ghosh and Hasan insisted that the release of the film was not timed during the elections. “It was supposed to release in January. It is a coincidence that the film is releasing now,” Hassan said.
Not everyone is keen to see ‘Korpur’ from the political lens. Rituparna Sengupta said, “I saw it more as a literature work rather than any political doctrine. My character is part of a power structure, yet at a crucial point she feels powerless, vulnerable, and helpless. Even at the height of her position, she is forced to confront challenges created by the system itself, and she tries to negotiate them with vision and wisdom.”