Life does not guarantee an easy journey. Life is all about heartbreaks and hardships, obstacles and failures, frustrations and pains; yet one cannot afford to give up. ’Hemlock Society’ brings home this point, and it is brought home rather effectively. The young and the old are already lavishing praises on this new Bangla film. The critics and the masses are equally appreciative. And that’s the success of the film. This is the third film from director Srijit Mukherji. His earlier films - ’Autograph’ and ’Baishey Srabon’ had created history too.
’Hemlock Society’ has an impressive cast. Koel Mullick, Parambrata Chatterjee, Dipankar De, Roopa Ganguly, Shaheb Chatterjee, and Silajit are impressive in their respective roles. Cameo appearances by Soumitra Chatterjee, Sabitri Chatterjee, Anindita Bose, and Priyanka are interesting as well.
The story revolves around Koel’s character, a girl who has been ditched badly by her about-to-be husband, with whom she has been in love for several years, and the setback makes her opt for suicide. Just as the jilted girl is about to pop in a whole lot of sleeping pills, enters - rather intervenes - an interesting guy, played by Parambrata, representing an institution called Hemlock Society. Supposedly the institution is his brainchild, and it assists people in committing suicide - through whatever opted means - successfully and effectively. The girl is cajoled to take a trip with him and get herself admitted to the said institution and get herself trained adequately, by professionals, in the art of suicide. Things however take a dramatic turn with the revelation that Hemlock Society is actually a pro-life institution, and the girl not only discovers the futility of giving up on life, and adopts the pro-life mode, she also rediscovers love. After all, love and life are integral to each other, one has to love life in order to live life to the fullest.
Mention must be made of Anupam Roy whose songs scored for the film is appealing to the core. The melodious songs - with meaningful lyrics - give the film an added appeal and accessibility.