Ek Din Achanak


Ek Din Achanak is a 1989 art film directed by Mrinal Sen, based on a Bengali novel, Beej by Ramapada Chowdhury.

Synopsis

One evening, in the midst of torrential rains, a professor goes out for a walk and fails to return. As the evening stretches into days and the days into weeks with no sign of him, his family struggles to regain their footing and to understand what might have caused him to leave. Slowly they return to their daily activities. The professor's son Amit "Amu" establishes his fledgling business; his younger daughter Seema resumes her studies at college; and his elder daughter, Neeta, the backbone of the family, returns to her office job.
Behind the facade of normalcy, though, the family is deeply wounded. Amit enjoys success in his business but is bitter and dour. Seema passes with 'First Division' in College. Neeta has a very patient and supportive boyfriend Alok, but the relationship is stuck in a holding pattern. And their mother suffers debilitating depression. Their hesitant attempts to piece together the professor's state of mind before his disappearance raise more questions than they answer: Was he having an affair with a former student ? Was his academic career crumbling? Was he a plagiarist?

Cast