Krishnakanta (Late Soumitra Chatterjee) is a cranky, old man with strong principles and a stronger determination. He realizes that his time is perhaps up and draws up a will for his estate that favors his nephew Govindalal (Jeet) as the true beneficiary of the wealth, over his own two sons. His elder son Haralal is not impressed with it and tries to entice Rohini (Swastika Mukherjee), a young widow close to the family, to switch the will with a fake one with a promise to marry her in return.
This act has a dramatic result on the family as the truth emerges and Rohini is virtually banished from the household. But her unabashed acceptance of her guilt brings her closer to Govindalal romantically, disrupting his blissfully married life permanently and also denying him his rightful inheritance of the estate. The family suffers from dire consequences as the event s spiral out of control, resulting in destruction of peace, harmony and love.
Krishnakanter Will is a period drama set in semi urban Bengal, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, and must be watched with that perspective instead of seeing it through the modern lens, lest you should find it regressive. Director Raja Sen spends far too much time in establishing the romantic bonding between Jeet and Swastika, possibly trying to encash on the offscreen chemistry between the two actors at that time, thus neither doing justice to the original story, nor the other characters. Consequently, the ending seems hurried and even somewhat patchy, and one cannot help wondering about the actions that led to the tragic finale. Monali Thakur's role is not allowed to bloom fully in the process and she has had to resort to overacting to justify her decisions. Similarly, Govindalal's impassioned falling out of love with Rohini has also been underplayed, thus assuring that his killing of the latter as rather contrived and frivolous. Krishnakanter Will is a tragic tale that doesn't get justice from Raja Sen, but must be watched for the superlative acting of Soumitra Chatterjee, Jeet and Swastika, even though the climax doesn't enthuse viewer satisfaction.
This act has a dramatic result on the family as the truth emerges and Rohini is virtually banished from the household. But her unabashed acceptance of her guilt brings her closer to Govindalal romantically, disrupting his blissfully married life permanently and also denying him his rightful inheritance of the estate. The family suffers from dire consequences as the event s spiral out of control, resulting in destruction of peace, harmony and love.
Krishnakanter Will is a period drama set in semi urban Bengal, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, and must be watched with that perspective instead of seeing it through the modern lens, lest you should find it regressive. Director Raja Sen spends far too much time in establishing the romantic bonding between Jeet and Swastika, possibly trying to encash on the offscreen chemistry between the two actors at that time, thus neither doing justice to the original story, nor the other characters. Consequently, the ending seems hurried and even somewhat patchy, and one cannot help wondering about the actions that led to the tragic finale. Monali Thakur's role is not allowed to bloom fully in the process and she has had to resort to overacting to justify her decisions. Similarly, Govindalal's impassioned falling out of love with Rohini has also been underplayed, thus assuring that his killing of the latter as rather contrived and frivolous. Krishnakanter Will is a tragic tale that doesn't get justice from Raja Sen, but must be watched for the superlative acting of Soumitra Chatterjee, Jeet and Swastika, even though the climax doesn't enthuse viewer satisfaction.
