Flat No.609 review: Arindam Bhattacharya's horror film scares and disappoints

Arindam Bhattacharya’s horror film Flat No.609 is a one-time watch for the chill it sends down the spine in a few sequences with its cinematic brilliance and apt background score. The film doesn’t have a complex storyline, yet it manages to surprise the audience with the most unexpected twist.

The film is compact and doesn’t allow the audience to get bored, as there is hardly any subplot or unnecessary characters. However, the twist is revealed quite abruptly in the second half without any clues building up to it. Hence, the revelation though surprises the audience, but fails to generate much intrigue.

The horror sequences are clichéd, but well executed. The director manages to get the audience hooked with the frequent scary moments and also with the thriller element in the latter part of the film. However, in the first half, the pattern of the horror sequences becomes soon predictable.

In the film, Sayantani (Tanushree Chakraborty) and Arko (Abir Chatterjee) are a newly married couple. As they look for a comfortable and pocket-friendly flat, Pappu (Rudranil Ghosh) the broker, shows them an apartment in the Rajarhat area. Here the director sows the seed of suspicion as with Pappu’s persuasions, the couple decide to take the flat on rent immediately despite the fact that they are not permitted to access a locked storeroom on their floor.

As they begin their stay in the apartment and celebrate a new beginning, it is revealed that Sayantani got married to Arko, without the assent of her parents. Also, Sayantani has a traumatic past. She lost her child Babui while giving birth to him. Whether Sayantani was previously married to someone else or she lost the baby while married to Arko is not very clear.

Sayantani suffers from bipolar deppression and quit her job after the loss of her child. Arko works in an IT firm and travels around the country frequently. Within two days of their moving to the new apartment, he leaves for a trip.

In the lonely apartment, Sayantai begins to have queer experiences. Bottles fall off on their own, photo-frames containing the couple’s pictures fall and break. Gradually, Sayantani begins to sense a supernatural presence. She tries to get acquainted with an aged couple (Mamata Shankar and Soumitra Chatterjee) who are also her neighbours.

When Sayantani attempts to enquire about the incidents in her flat, the old lady becomes paranoid and refuses to disclose anything. Sayantani, on the other hand, feels drawn towards the prohibited storeroom. She confides in her friend (Pujarini Ghosh), who refuses to believe in her. Arko, too, tries to convince her that she is hallucinating by getting overly anxious. Helpless, Sayantani informs her father and he asks the police to investigate into the matter.

Meanwhile, Sayantani’s encounter with the supernatural spirit keeps increasing and finally the lady discloses to her the history of the flat. Does the past help Sayantani in coming to terms with the strange occurrences? What step does Arko take to free her from the troubles? Why is only Sayantani experiencing the supernatural presence and not Arko? Does he not believe what the neighbours say about the flat?                                                               

The thriller twist to the plot is an inevitable shift from the horror segment. There is definitely a link between the two but without any cause and effect relation.

The revelation shakes the audience but the narrative of the thriller seems to be way too simple and lacks dramatic intensity. On the other hand, the connection of the void in Sayantani’s life and the supernatural spirit is quite ingenious. There are a few sequences before the climax that might appear to be inconsequential and lacking of closure. For example, Sayantani’s encounter with the previous tenants and getting hold of some flight tickets, however, they all lead the way to the climax.

Amidst the horror sequences, where an unknown presence lies down beside Sayantani in the bed, truly pushes the audience to gasp in terror. The brilliant camerawork by Souvik Basu and Sujoy Datta Roy’s editing, carry the signature of the director’s supervision but do deliver a satisfactory experience to the audience. The minimal use of light, swift shift in the angles, and the domination of silence turn Flat No.609 quite eerie in itself.

Hindole Chakraborty seems to have drawn a lot of inspiration from recent American film A Quiet Place (2018) in terms of designing the background score preceding each horror sequence.

Tanushree Chakraborty is extremely natural as the scared and distressed lonely housewife. Her expressions of mounting fear in each of the scary sequences are quite convincing. Mamata Shankar’s physical appearance and characterisation is quite interesting and it adds to the horror quotient of the film to a great extent. Shankar delivers a commanding performance as she does justice to her character.

Abir Chatterjee’s character contains a lot of shades and he is seen in a never-before-seen avatar as well. Soumitra Chatterjee as the worried aged-husband of Shankar continues to leave impact with his consistently natural performance. Rudranil Ghosh as the street smart broker and Kharaj Mukherjee as the police, too, make their mark in their brief appearances. Pujarini Ghosh delivers a decent performance as well.

'Icche Gulo' sung by Ujjaini Mukherjee and Anupam Roy, has a rather unusual composition by Ratul Shankar Ghosh. On the other hand, 'Kichhu Kichu Kotha', sung by Iman Chakraborty, magnifies the loneliness in Sayantani’s life.

The entire film may not be an outstanding creation but watching it is surely not a waste of time. The film scares, surprises and lets one down in the climax.