Ashoke Viswanathan’s upcoming film Hemanter Aparanha tells a story about the inhabitants of a middle-class neighbourhood in the city. The three-minute-long trailer is divided into several parts that each start with a self-explanatory exposition. Besides introducing its ensemble cast, the trailer gives a broad overview of the themes explored in the film. A post-Covid tale, it recalls the terror of the pandemic through the story of an elderly widower who lives all by himself. Themes of loneliness and old age are also examined in Hemanter Aparanha, whose title itself suggests that its protagonist has reached the autumn of his life.

An interesting aspect of the film is that it explores the story-within-a-story template. The trailer begins with the people of the neighbourhood teaming up to form Pathikrit Natya Goshthi and presenting a play in which they request the elderly gentleman Sudhin Babu (Satyapriya Mukhopadhyay), to take part. The ambience of the film is one of heartwarming congeniality, where the entire neighbourhood is like one big, extended happy family and is reminiscent of the ‘para’ culture of ’70s and ’80s Calcutta.

The sniff of a romance between the characters played by Rwitobroto Mukherjee and Anusha Vishwanathan is also hinted at by the trailer. An angle of mystery and intrigue is also introduced with a flashback to a haunting past connected with Sudhin Babu’s dead wife. Reality and fiction appear to merge as the dialogues of the play appear to foretell events in the lives of the actors, while the ending of the trailer further intensifies the mystery with a scene showing Sudhin Babu riding on horseback, as a movie director (Ashoke Viswanathan) motions his crew to prepare for the final shot.

Fans have commented favourably about the trailer and expressed their eagerness to watch the film.