Trailer Talk: Mukhosh Masks The Dark Truth Of A Serial Killer

The trailer of Birsa Dasgupta's upcoming Bengali-language psychological thriller, Mukhosh – an official remake of the Malayalam film, Anjaam Pathiraa (2020) – dropped on Sunday.

The trailer begins with actor Anirban Bhattacharya's voiceover quoting the Bible on paradise, as an ominous sound of a wild animal can be heard in the background. The visuals shift from a current-day scenario, where the police, along with a resident criminologist (Bhattacharya), is on the hunt for an untraceable, dangerous serial killer to visuals of the past with a young boy, playing a harmonica in the initial clips, and his family – mildly indicating that their truth has something to do with the either the crime or the criminal in question.

Emerging at night in the middle of darkness – and glimmering red lighting – is the silhouette of the serial killer, wearing a Mukhosh, or a mask, of an animal. He's attacking a police officer, initially greeting him with a 'hello'. The visual that follows is a still of the man's dead body, lying in the garbage. The criminologist investigating the murderer deduces that this instance wasn't a one-off; that the serial killer is actually targeting the police, in general. From the pattern of the said murder, his message is apparently clear – 'Police is garbage.'

Through footages and evidences, they realize that the killer wears a mask of a lamb. The criminologist quotes the Bible again, suggesting that the psychology behind the killings is linked to the idea of the Lamb of God, 'who takes away the sin of the world.' The clips that follow go back to the young boy, eating a meal with his father and sister, as a Father at a cemetery talks about loss and pain, followed by footages of him being held at gunpoint by the police, yet again indicating a tragic truth waiting to unfold.

The trailer ends with a montage of shots – and the harmonica tune that the young boy played in the beginning – where the police realise that they aren't the ones following the killer. Rather, it's the killer, now wearing a black hoodie, who is making them follow him.

Directed by Birsa Dasgupta (who has previously helmed films like Bibaho Obhijaan and Shob Bhooturey), the film stars Anirban Bhattacharya, Chandreyee Ghosh, Anirban Chakrabarti, Payel and Koushik Sen, among others. Co-produced by SVF Entertainment, it is scheduled for a theatrical release in August.