“Kaler Putul” releasing March 30

Agatha Christie adaptation gets censor clearance

Aka Reza Ghalib's feature debut “Kaler Putul” has received its censor certificate, and is all but confirmed to release on the last weekend of March.

The film, inspired by the Agatha Christie masterpiece “And Then There Were None”, has been written by Nasiful Walid and features a formidable cast including Ferdous Ahmed, Raisul Islam Asad, Shahed Ali, Lutfar Rahman George, Ashish Khandakar, Reetu Sattar, Jannatun Noor Moon and others. It has been filmed in Banderban, and Swani Zubayeer has composed music for it.

Talking to The Daily Star, the director said “We are planning to release the film on March 30. Like most films by our production house, Impress Telefilm, it will likely be a limited release.” He also added that once the hall list and final details of release are locked, promotional work will begin. “The trailer and poster will arrive soon, and we will also release a couple of songs as part of the campaign,” he added.

The film's official synopsis says: “Ten apparent strangers are invited to a remote resort by a mysterious person. They are greeted by a caretaker. Instead of the host they are received by a strange message accusing each of them being a murderer. And the message ends with an ominous note – death penalty for their crime. The plot, which resembles the plot from a famous book sounded familiar to some of the guests. They thought it was a joke. Others didn't find it that funny. They wanted to leave. But the only way out of the resort was severed. And then the killing began.”

“The film, because of its subject, I believe will appeal to a niche audience,” Ghalib says. “But I will definitely be happy if a larger audience accepts it. We see now on social media that a lot of people here are watching international independent and off-beat films, and if I can reach them I will feel I have achieved my target.”

“Kaler Putul” was in competition at this year's Dhaka International Film Festival, but a public screening did not take place as the film did not have its censor certificate in hand yet. A jury screening took place, according to the director.

“And Then There Were None” (published 1939) is legendary mystery fiction author Agatha Christie's highest-sold book with over a 100 million copies sold worldwide, also making it the world's best-selling mystery and one of the top-selling books of all time. It has been adapted numerous times to film, from 1945's Rene Clair adaptation to 2015's Kannada adaptation “Aatagara”.