Kalkokkho trailer: Eerie, intriguing tale in the midst of the pandemic

The debut feature film of the National Award-winning director-duo Rajdeep Paul and Sarmistha Maiti, Kalkokkho (House Of Time) will be released in theatres on 19 August. The trailer of the film was launched and the release date was announced at the 116-year-old office of the Aurora Film Corporation in Kolkata.

The film has been backed by the legendary production and distribution company, which is the oldest such firm in India. The world premiere of the film was held at the 26th Busan International Film Festival 2021 in the New Currents (Main Competition) section and it has been screened at several film festivals since.

The synopsis of the film reads, "In the middle of a contagious pandemic, an apathetic but adept doctor is taken hostage by a young woman in a desperate attempt to ensure the safety of her family. Held captive in an almost desolate house inhabited by three women of three ages – a paranoid young woman, an amnesic old woman and a lonely young girl, the doctor discovers that forces beyond his comprehension are at play and he might be trapped not only in space but also in time.’

"The film explores the texture of time with a blend of magic realism and existential horror to express the sense of dread and temporal stasis generated globally by the pandemic. Through mythological allegory and spiritual subtext, it explores eternal themes like reality and illusion, instinct and morality, love, loneliness and grief, the power of stories, the nature of the feminine and the masculine, and the discriminations of ‘I’, ‘you’ and ‘they’ that has fragmented the world we live in to tell a tale of “longing for belonging” which is the biggest crisis of human existence now and forever!"

The trailer of the film brings together the elements of horror and magic realism as it features three women, one of whom talks about the pandemic taking place when she was a little girl. Imprisoned in the home, presumably due to the pandemic, the women move around like ghostly presences, holding a doctor hostage. Even though he is the one tied, the oldest woman amongst the three, talks about being trapped. There are eerie images of the old woman knitting, the women with dark circles around their eyes and objects that take on another meaning in the context of the house, leading to an unnerving feeling.