THE PARCEL (Bengali) - Interesting concept but unexciting writing and direction. [TTP (To The Point) Review by Bobby Sing]

 A psychological-mystery thriller, The Parcel, directed by Indrasis Acharya, has a novel premise that grabs your attention at once making a fine start. A doctor couple living along with their young daughter receive surprise gifts from an unknown sender having old photographs of the wife, raising several doubts affecting their marital relationship. The sender neither conveys any message nor keeps any demand as a blackmailer, making the matters worse. 

The fresh concept successfully pulls the viewer in raising the expectations, that sadly remain unfulfilled because of unexciting writing and execution. Introducing additional sub-plots of a forgotten affair, a secret past, an ailing relative, and doctors getting framed in medical negligence, the film keeps wandering cluelessly and fails to exploit its fresh, potential plot missing a fine opportunity. Instead of deeply exploring the fear psychosis of its protagonist, the writer/director goes on adding unnecessary sequences and characters into the script, resulting in a painfully, lengthy film. 

Even veteran actors as Rituparna Sengupta and Saswata Chatterjee are not able to contribute much in terms of performances due to many major loopholes. As a result, nothing registers, till the revelation comes as a saviour, asking the viewer to re-visualize the entire film in reverse mode. That remaining interesting, the climax also suggests that perhaps this was a perfect idea for a short film that was forcibly adapted to make a full-length feature film. In short, The Parcel is a slow-burner thriller with a novel plot that sadly gets lost in its directionless narrative.

Rating : 2.5 / 5