Chaalchitro: The Frame Fatale

== Plot ==

== Plot ==

{{Long plot|section|date=January 2025}}

{{Long plot|section|date=January 2025}}

Kanishka Chatterjee is a driven cop who doesn't hesitate to threaten or cajole to get things done. His relationship with wife Mili is quite rocky and he is haunted by a PTSD of discovering unutterable horror in the form of a series of murders that left an indelible mark on his psyche. As a fresh murder occurs, his fellow officer Naseer, well-experienced and soft-spoken, having an autistic daughter whose days are numbered, finds drastic similarities between the new one and those from the past. As he joins forces with junior officers Ritesh, a bright student, IIT, IPS topper, still adjusting with his new team and trying to overcome the language barrier, having a sweet Bengali girlfriend and Bishwa, who prefers to speak with his hands and feet instead of his mouth, who has found love in a North Kolkata brothel, it becomes apparent that the murderer has a theme in mind.

Kanishka Chatterjee is a driven cop who doesn't hesitate to threaten or cajole to get things done. His relationship with wife Mili is quite rocky and he is haunted by a PTSD of discovering unutterable horror in the form of a series of murders that left an indelible mark on his psyche. As a fresh murder occurs, his fellow officer Naseer, well-experienced and soft-spoken, having an autistic daughter whose days are numbered, finds drastic similarities between the new one and those from the past. As he joins forces with junior officers Ritesh, a bright student, IIT, IPS topper, still adjusting with his new team and trying to overcome the language barrier, having a sweet Bengali girlfriend and Bishwa, who prefers to speak with his hands and feet instead of his mouth, who has found love in a [[North Kolkata]] brothel, it becomes apparent that the murderer has a theme in mind.

The movie opens with a young, unmarried woman named Sushmita getting killed alone in her flat. Kanishka finds out that her body was severely mutilated, dressed with a Banarasi sari and a tuberose garland, applied blood on her forehead and pinned to the wall, with a 'chaalchitro' (arch structure used behind the Durga idol during [[Durga Puja]]) structure made by the sofa frame. He was immediately reminded of a similar case twelve years ago, which completely changed him as a cop. However he completely nullified the chance of the killer starting to strike again as he was still under tough arrest. Naseer goes to Pavlov Hospital, where the killer was kept under mental therapies, and finds that he hasn't escaped anywhere. The four find out that the victim's marriage was called off five months ago due to the breakup of the couple, so they arrest the victim's boyfriend.

The movie opens with a young, unmarried woman named Sushmita getting killed alone in her flat. Kanishka finds out that her body was severely mutilated, dressed with a [[Banarasi sari]] and a tuberose garland, applied blood on her forehead and pinned to the wall, with a 'chaalchitro' (arch structure used behind the Durga idol during [[Durga Puja]]) structure made by the sofa frame. He was immediately reminded of a similar case twelve years ago, which completely changed him as a cop. However he completely nullified the chance of the killer starting to strike again as he was still under tough arrest. Naseer goes to Pavlov Hospital, where the killer was kept under mental therapies, and finds that he hasn't escaped anywhere. The four find out that the victim's marriage was called off five months ago due to the breakup of the couple, so they arrest the victim's boyfriend.

Meanwhile, Kanishka has a fight with his wife at home regarding priorities and work, Ritesh and his girlfriend Purabi chats about how Ritesh is facing problems to adjust with his seniors, who weren't half as qualified as him but yet pulled his leg as he was the youngest in the team, Bishwa and his love interest Joba, who is a prostitute in a North Kolkata brothel have sex and talk regarding how Joba wants to do lip and breast surgeries and Naseer promises his girl Putul who's suffering from cerebral palsy stage 4, that he would retire in six more months and start spending the entire day with his daughter. Kanishka and Ritesh interrogate the victim's boyfriend and try him to confess, but nevertheless Bishwa informs them that another murder just like this one has now been discovered. Kanishka lets the first victim's boyfriend go. The second murder was plotted in a Durga Puja pandal, where the victim Bidita was similarly pinned to the structure of the pandal, in front of a real 'chaalchitro' structure. Kanishka realizes that the series of murders has started again. He faints completely at the murder sight and becomes anxious after coming home and has nightmares. Ritesh and Bishwa insist Naseer to tell what the twelve-year-old case was and how it changed Kanishka. Naseer narrates the whole story to them.

Meanwhile, Kanishka has a fight with his wife at home regarding priorities and work, Ritesh and his girlfriend Purabi chats about how Ritesh is facing problems to adjust with his seniors, who weren't half as qualified as him but yet pulled his leg as he was the youngest in the team, Bishwa and his love interest Joba, who is a prostitute in a North Kolkata brothel have sex and talk regarding how Joba wants to do lip and breast surgeries and Naseer promises his girl Putul who's suffering from cerebral palsy stage 4, that he would retire in six more months and start spending the entire day with his daughter. Kanishka and Ritesh interrogate the victim's boyfriend and try him to confess, but nevertheless Bishwa informs them that another murder just like this one has now been discovered. Kanishka lets the first victim's boyfriend go. The second murder was plotted in a Durga Puja pandal, where the victim Bidita was similarly pinned to the structure of the pandal, in front of a real 'chaalchitro' structure. Kanishka realizes that the series of murders has started again. He faints completely at the murder sight and becomes anxious after coming home and has nightmares. Ritesh and Bishwa insist Naseer to tell what the twelve-year-old case was and how it changed Kanishka. Naseer narrates the whole story to them.

Ritesh insists Kanishka to visit the old killer so that he can get some leads. Kanishka, initially hesitating, later went with Ritesh to Pavlov Hospital. Bhuban initially denied to say anything, and told them to bring biryani and chicken chaap the next time they come. Ritesh cleverly offers him a cigarette, to which he agrees to speak. He makes them notice that he dressed his victims with white saris with red borders and garlands made of hibiscus flowers, giving them a goddess-like attire. However, this killer is dressing his victims with Banarasi saris and tuberose garlands, applying blood on their forehead like vermillion, giving them a bridal attire. So, the killer wasn't copying the previous murders, but adapting the murders with a completely different motive. Kanishka later praises Ritesh for his smart move, as they have biryani, and bring shahi tukda for the other two policemen. The four cops are able to narrow down the victim profile as the victims were unmarried, lived alone, had their wedding called off due to breaking up with their fiancé. They start to search all wedding halls in the city as which weddings in the last six months were called off and run personal background checks of the possible victims. They narrow down to four victims.

Ritesh insists Kanishka to visit the old killer so that he can get some leads. Kanishka, initially hesitating, later went with Ritesh to Pavlov Hospital. Bhuban initially denied to say anything, and told them to bring biryani and chicken chaap the next time they come. Ritesh cleverly offers him a cigarette, to which he agrees to speak. He makes them notice that he dressed his victims with white saris with red borders and garlands made of hibiscus flowers, giving them a goddess-like attire. However, this killer is dressing his victims with Banarasi saris and tuberose garlands, applying blood on their forehead like vermillion, giving them a bridal attire. So, the killer wasn't copying the previous murders, but adapting the murders with a completely different motive. Kanishka later praises Ritesh for his smart move, as they have biryani, and bring shahi tukda for the other two policemen. The four cops are able to narrow down the victim profile as the victims were unmarried, lived alone, had their wedding called off due to breaking up with their fiancé. They start to search all wedding halls in the city as which weddings in the last six months were called off and run personal background checks of the possible victims. They narrow down to four victims.

Meanwhile, Ritesh pencil books a wedding hall to marry Purabi, Bishwa sees Joba having sex with another man and wants to settle with her to which Joba disagrees as she doesn't want to leave her work, Putul breaks down to Naseer as he couldn't give ample time to Putul, she tells that she wouldn't take long to move from cerebral palsy stage 4 to stage 5 and finally die, so she wants his father to be with her and doesn't want to let him go, Kanishka finds out that Mili is pregnant, but is now completely uninterested to be a father as when he wanted to be a father, Mili disagreed to have a baby and focused on her career. Kanishka tells Mili that he is out of this and all decisions would have to be taken by Mili herself. The four cops decide to secretly guard the four possible victims. One night, a tired Bishwa dozed off in his car, Ritesh made love to Purabi in phone and Naseer was talking to Putul in video call as Putul wanted him to take his day off the next day, to which he agrees and promises her that he would talk with Kanishka regarding this. He sees a suspicious man entering the possible victim's house. He follows him and enters the house. However, he can't reach either Bishwa or Ritesh. While he was calling Kanishka, he is hit on his head with a rod. Later we see that Kanishka reaches the spot the very morning and finds out that Naseer died due to a scuffle with the killer. He sees blood inside the room and the victim pinned to the wall in a similar attire, with a 'chaalchitro' structure made with books, as the curtains drop for interval.

Meanwhile, Ritesh pencil books a wedding hall to marry Purabi, Bishwa sees Joba having sex with another man and wants to settle with her to which Joba disagrees as she doesn't want to leave her work, Putul breaks down to Naseer as he couldn't give ample time to Putul, she tells that she wouldn't take long to move from cerebral palsy stage 4 to stage 5 and finally die, so she wants his father to be with her and doesn't want to let him go, Kanishka finds out that Mili is pregnant, but is now completely uninterested to be a father as when he wanted to be a father, Mili disagreed to have a baby and focused on her career. Kanishka tells Mili that he is out of this and all decisions would have to be taken by Mili herself. The four cops decide to secretly guard the four possible victims. One night, a tired Bishwa dozed off in his car, Ritesh made love to Purabi in phone and Naseer was talking to Putul in video call as Putul wanted him to take his day off the next day, to which he agrees and promises her that he would talk with Kanishka regarding this. He sees a suspicious man entering the possible victim's house. He follows him and enters the house. However, he can't reach either Bishwa or Ritesh. While he was calling Kanishka, he is hit on his head with a rod. Later we see that Kanishka reaches the spot the very morning and finds out that Naseer died due to a scuffle with the killer. He sees blood [[Inside the Room|inside the room]] and the victim pinned to the wall in a similar attire, with a 'chaalchitro' structure made with books, as the curtains drop for interval.

Post-interval we see Kanishka totally depressed as he told Mili and Putul about this. Mili tried to rationalize the incident, while Putul completely broke down to the news. Purabi's parents were a little hesitant marrying their daughter with Ritesh learning about the incident. Ritesh blamed himself for not answering Naseer's call, while Bishwa wanted to rationalize this incident. This led to a quarrel between the two in a bar. Ritesh says foul about the police in his uniform there which was shot by someone and made viral to the media. Ritesh is suspended and his marriage is called off. Purabi's parents leave town in fear of facing media, leaving Purabi alone. The killer takes this very chance to kill Purabi, but is caught red-handed in a combat by Ritesh, however, he seemed to have an upper-hand.

Post-interval we see Kanishka totally depressed as he told Mili and Putul about this. Mili tried to rationalize the incident, while Putul completely broke down to the news. Purabi's parents were a little hesitant marrying their daughter with Ritesh learning about the incident. Ritesh blamed himself for not answering Naseer's call, while Bishwa wanted to rationalize this incident. This led to a quarrel between the two in a bar. Ritesh says foul about the police in his uniform there which was shot by someone and made viral to the media. Ritesh is suspended and his marriage is called off. Purabi's parents leave town in fear of facing media, leaving Purabi alone. The killer takes this very chance to kill Purabi, but is caught red-handed in a combat by Ritesh, however, he seemed to have an upper-hand.