Jaatishwar (2014)

Jaatishwar (transl. Past life regression) is a 2014 Indian Bengali musical drama film directed by Srijit Mukherji, starring Prosenjit Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta and Swastika Mukherjee. The main focus of the plot revolves around the life and notable works of Anthony Firingee (Hensman Anthony), a 19th-century Bengali language folk poet of Portuguese origin, along with other supporting characters. The time frame of the storyline jumps between two different time periods—19th century and the present day (2013).[1] The music of Jaatiswar is composed by Kabir Suman.

The film has been recognized as the most awarded film in the 61st National Film Awards with 4 awards in the following categories -Best Music Direction, Best Male Playback Singer, Best Costume Design and Best Make-up Artist.

In the present timeline, Rohit Mehta (Jisshu Sengupta), a Gujarati born and brought up in Calcutta, falls in love with Mahamaya (Swastika Mukherjee) and tries to woo her. Since he can just barely utter a few Bengali words (and that too in the wrong places), Mahamaya throws him a hurdle to cross – if he can write a song with correct Bengali lyrics and sing it without any accent or mistake, she would think of a possible relationship. Rohit accepts the challenge and goes to Portugal to study colonial history.

Two years pass. Mahamaya is now a radio jockey at a popular radio station. Rohit is in Portugal but still very much in love with her. His Bengali is being refined by his friend and classmate Bodhi (Abir Chatterjee). Rohit chooses the music course and decides to do a dissertation on the 19th Century folk poet Hensman Anthony(Anthony Firingee). He goes to Calcutta and then to Farashdanga, Chandannagar, where Anthony lived and composed his songs. He goes to the local library to get some books where he meets the assistant librarian, a Jaatishwar mysterious man named Kushal Hajra (Prosenjit Chatterjee), who claims to be the re-incarnation of Anthony himself. Kushal laments that the visions of his previous life is haunting him every day, and slowly taking over the memory of his present life. Rohit promises to take him to Calcutta for treatment, in return he demands the life history of Anthony.