Bandha Ghorer Awaaj

(Who talks in the closed room?)

The story is based in the small town of Jhargram, and main activities take place
in Jhargram Palace. Presently in a part of this palace stays Aditya Rudra, heir
of the famous Rudra family. Aditya is an industrialist, widower and a man who is
quite benevolent in nature. His helpful nature is understood by the fact that he
has given shelter to the wife of his deceased brother and his daughter. Aditya
has lost his wife long back, has a son, from his wife’s earlier marriage and is
having an affair with Mrs Atreyi Sen, an aristocratic widow of Jhargram.
Unfortunately, Aditya is not in good terms with his stepson.

Our film starts with the shocking news that Mrs Atreyi has committed suicide!
In fact, today the news in Jhargram is all about the death of Mrs Atreyi. A
rumour about Mrs Atreyi, which had long died down is alive again and is heard
in from various mouths. The rumour, quite a dangerous one, is that Mrs
Atreyi’s husband had not died from illness but was actually murdered by Mrs
Atreyi. The flames of rumour have been fanned by the much-known fact that
Mrs Atreyi’s husband was debouch, alcoholic and a habitual wife basher.

Aditya is naturally distraught. He invites his friend Dr Partha Dasgupta to dinner

at his house with the purpose of discussing some very important matter with
him in private. Dr Partha dines with Aditya; Aditya's distant sister-in-law Mrs
Neha, her young daughter Puja, Major Bhargav, a big-game hunter, and friend
of Aditya and Arif, Aditya’s personal secretary and Satya their servant.

After dinner, Partha and Aditya retire to the latter’s study to talk in private.
Aditya tells him that Mrs Atreyi had confided to him that she had indeed killed
her husband and was being blackmailed about killing her husband. Aditya had
insisted to know the name of the blackmailer. Atreyi had not divulged the name
but had said that Aditya will come to know within twenty-four hours. And within
twelve hours Atreyi is reported dead. During the meeting Aditya receives a
letter, which has come in the afternoon. He finds that it is written by Atreyi and
understands that it must be containing the name of the blackmailer Atreyi had
promised to tell him. Dr Dasgupta implores Aditya to read the letter and tell him
the name. But Aditya has plans to read it in private and so bids good night to
Dr Dasgupta.

 
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 Dr Dasgupta returns home and takes to reading after dinner. He lives with his
elder sister who is a spinster. Dr Dasgupta is a widower himself. Late at
night, Dr Dasgupta receives a telephone call. He rushes out, telling his sister
Archana that Satya, Aditya's servant, has found Aditya murdered. Upon Dr
Dasgupta’s arrival, Satya says he did never make such a call. Dr Dasgupta
wants to be sure that Aditya is alright. Aditya doesn’t open the study door in
spite of repeated knocking and so the door has to be forced. Surprisingly Dr
Dasgupta and Satya, find Aditya in his study, stabbed to death with a weapon
from his collection, precisely in the manner described by the anonymous caller.

Abhishek, the stepson of Aditya is the prime suspect and is nowhere to be

found. Puja however does not believe Abhishek is guilty. She approaches
retired CID officer Aniruddha Bhowmick, who is living all by himself next door to
the Dasguptas, with a request to investigate the case privately. Aniruddha
comes out of retirement at the request of Neha and starts the investigation.

***
Arif and Bhargav has both overheard Aditya speaking to someone from within
his study, and Neha had said goodnight to her uncle, placing Aditya's death
into a narrow time frame for which servant Satya, Secretary Arif, friend Bhargav,
Neha, and Puja all have solid alibis.

Police trace the telephone call made to Dr Partha Dasgupta. It was made
from a public booth at Jhargram Junction rail station. Aniruddha proceeds to
collect more information and discovers a representative of a digital audio
recorder company had visited Aditya some days before his murder. Aniruddha
also finds a ring with the inscription "From A" in the backyard pool of the palace.
Aniruddha notices that Komal, the nurse for Aditya’s octogenarian father has
no alibi for the murder.

He also comes to know of a very interesting fact. Arif reports that when he had
broken open the study door with Dr Dasgupta he had observed a high-backed
chair in a rather curious location. He had gone out to call others seeing the
murder. Later on however someone had changed the position of the chair to
normal. He has no clue why the chair was there and who had put it back to the
expected place.

Aniruddha calls a meeting in Jhargram Palace and tells Arif, Neha, Puja,
Komal, and Bhargav that they have all been concealing something from him. Dr
Partha aids Aniruddha in his investigations. The will of Ankit is read out and
is seen that

 
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 his estranged stepson Abhishek is the main beneficiary. This information
makes Abhishek even a bigger suspect.

A neighbour reports that she has seen Ankit entering the gates around the
time of Ankit’s murder. Ankit’s death has also benefited Neha and her
daughter Puja as Ankit has provided generously for them in his will. Aniruddha
finds out that Neha did not see her uncle in his study to say good night. That
means Prasanta and Bhargav are the last to hear Aditya alive. This widens the
time slot of Aditya’s murder. Aniruddha goes ahead and makes some very more
important discoveries.

Aniruddha calls a second meeting, and produces Abhishek in the meeting!

Abhishek was kept in the hiding by Dr Partha Dasgupta in his nursing home as
Partha had thought since Abhishek had had no alibi he had no option but to
hide. Aniruddha reveals that the ring found with “From A” is the ring given by
Abhishek to ‘nurse’ Komal. She is actually Abhishek’s fiancée and was
staying as nurse so she could be near Abhishek. Komal had dropped it in the
pool after having a fight with Abhishek. Aniruddha says that he knows the
killer's identity. He wants the killer to confess, else the next morning he will tell
everything to police.
When Aniruddha and Partha are alone, their conversation takes a startling turn.
Aniruddha reveals that Aditya's killer is nobody but Dr Partha, who had stabbed
Aditya in the study and used Aditya's digital audio recorder to make it appear
that Aditya was still alive and talking after Partha's departure.

Aniruddha explains the inconsistency in the time it took for Partha to reach the
gates, deducing that he looped back to Ankit's study window. Earlier that day,
he had asked a patient of his to phone him at a specific time and he had made
the call from the railway station. Partha wanted to be on the scene to discover
Aditya's body, remove the digital audio recorder and return the chair that
concealed it from view to its original place. Partha was Mrs Atreyi Sen's
blackmailer, as the doctor had attended on her late husband and suspected
Mrs Atreyi Sen' guilt, he had murdered Aditya to stop him knowing this.
Aniruddha tells Partha that all this information will be reported to the police
in the morning. In the last scene we see Dr Partha writing his diary. He wanted
it to be Aniruddha's big failure. But now he is caught. He is seen taking the
same sleeping pills as Mrs Atreyi had taken earlier in the film.

Sumantra Chattopadhyay

sumantrachat@gmail.com  9836199519 

 
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