Rating: 6.6/10
Director: Anvita Dutt
Writer: Anvita Dutt
Cast: Tripti Dimri as Bulbbul
Avinash Tiwary as Satya
Paoli Dam as Binodini
Rahul Bose as Indranil and Mahendra
Parambrata Chattopadhyay as Dr. Sudip
Plot:
The story starts in the nineteenth century in Bengal Presidency. Bulbbul is married off to Indranil, the Bado Thakur (Elder Lord), when she is barely five years old. She is close with Satya, Indranil’s youngest brother, who is closer to her age. Bulbbul and Satya grow up together, playing and telling each other stories of a demon woman (“chudail”). Indranil’s mentally challenged twin brother Mahender shows a strange appeal toward Bulbbul.
Twenty years later, Satya returns home from London. In that time, Mahender was killed in what is believed to be a chudail’s attack. His widow Binodini now lives in an outhouse. Indranil has left the village and Bulbbul has taken over his responsibilities. The village doctor, Sudip, regularly visits to check Bulbbul’s feet. Their closeness causes jealousy in Satya. While on a hunt, a man is killed, which is attributed to the chudail. Satya, however, suspects Sudip.
In flashbacks, it is revealed that Binodini had been jealous of Indranil and Bulbbul’s marriage, and hinted to Indranil that Bulbbul had feelings for Satya. In response, Indranil sent Satya to London to separate the two. Bulbbul and Satya had been working on a story together, the manuscript of which Satya handed over to her before leaving for London. Heartbroken, she had thrown the manuscript into the fireplace. With his mind poisoned by Binodini, Indranil takes out the remaining burning pages and reads them, becoming convinced of Bulbbul’s feelings for Satya. Enraged, he beats and mutilates her feet. While she is bedridden, Mahender rapes her and apparently causes her death. However, the event actually causes a supernatural change in Bulbbul — she comes back with a mission to help the females in the village fight back against injustice. She goes through a symbolic transformation that is defined by a blood red moon, which indicates that the goddess Kali has given her soul a chance to return to her mortal body. She starts punishing the men who abuse and murder their wives or take advantage of girls by killing them but the villagers think it is a chudail, distinguished by her backward feet.
Satya escorts Sudip to Calcutta on the charge of being the murderer. On the way, the driver of the carriage is killed by the chudail, making Satya realize Sudip is innocent. He shoots the chudail, mortally wounding her. During a brawl with Sudip, he unintentionally sets the forest on fire. Soon he realises that Bulbbul is the chudail when Sudip shouts for her. Upon realizing this, Satya cries in agony, while Bulbbul (who had taken refuge from the fire in a tree) watches him and is shown to be slowly engulfed by the flames. [7][8]
A year later, Indranil returns to an empty house as Satya has departed, as Satya had felt he, too, was becoming like his brothers. One night, Indranil is awoken from his sleep by Bulbbul, who presumably kills Indranil to take revenge.
