Chatrak is not a comfortable watch. It is slippery, damp, and unsettling. But like the mushrooms that sprout uninvited, it is a testament to life persisting in the cracks of modernity. It remains a brave, beautiful blemish on the face of Bengali cinema that deserves to be seen in its entirety, beyond the controversies of the past.
The mushroom is a phallic symbol. As the film progresses, the characters become obsessed with the fungi growing on skin. Paoli Dam’s character grapples with her brother’s return, which disrupts her sexual relationship with the developer. The "Chatrak" represents the primal urges that civilization tries to bury under concrete. Chatrak Bengali Movie
One cannot discuss Chatrak without addressing the elephant in the room. The film gained massive notoriety in India due to a involving actor Paoli Dam . Chatrak is not a comfortable watch