One man wears many faces, or maybe many men wear the same one, in the ancient city where the Ganga flows through time like a silver thread, where every alley hums with secrets, and where every ghat has its ghost. Saswata Chatterjee doesn’t simply show up in The Eken – Benaras e Bibhishika. Shapeshifting through roles like a whisper through temple bells, he moves through it with ease.

Saswata Chatterjee appears in The Eken: Benaras e Bibhishika as a moving mystery who adopts a startling variety of personas. Saswata plays several roles in this upcoming film from Hoichoi Studios, which is directed by Joydeep Mukherjee. He plays an elderly man whose eyes seem to hold the weight of untold stories; a calm, quiet police officer who has secrets hidden beneath the surface; a tall Punjabi with a distinct edge; and a regular local who blends in with the ghats while wearing slippers and a gamcha. He changes into a monk in saffron robes, wearing dark sunglasses, displaying contradiction and serenity.

In addition, he is a bleach-blonde Goan who is loud and eccentric, bringing with him an odd charm and disorder. Additionally, there is the unassuming man in the shirt, trousers, and cap who you might not even notice, but who may be concealing the most important secrets of all.

The mystery grows with each glance: are they disguises, different personas, or aspects of the same individual? Somewhere in Benaras’s smoke, silence, and constantly shifting shadows, the answers float.

There is a certain satisfaction in seeing Saswata Chatterjee fully immerse himself in his roles, which is what he does best. He transitions between these personas with remarkable ease, whether it’s the elderly man’s vulnerability, the police officer’s calculated authority, or the Punjabi macho man’s eccentric energy. Benaras e Bibhishika, however, is more than just a display of his versatility. These avatars are intricately interwoven with the main plot point. The movie never lets you settle on a response, instead keeping you on the edge of your seat. Saswata’s genius is found there, and that’s the fun part.

The Eken—Benaras e Bibhishika—follows the quirky but lovable detective Eken Babu, once again portrayed by Anirban Chakrabarti, as he becomes entangled in a terrifying conspiracy against the ethereal and multi-layered backdrop of one of the oldest cities on earth. What starts as an intriguing trail of hints—several odd paintings, a pendant concealing a secret, Morse-coded messages—quickly develops into a high-stakes investigation in which the city appears to be defending its truths. All of this culminates in the spooky and strikingly beautiful festival of Masaan Holi, where terror, celebration, and tradition converge. Saswata’s characters emerge and vanish like mirages amid this labyrinth of tales and shadows, never giving away too much and always leaving you in suspense.

With Benaras acting as more than just a setting, the movie is a deft homage to timeless films like Joy Baba Felunath. The story is made more tense by the use of smoke-cloaked rituals, whispering walls, narrow lanes, and ancient ghats. Based on Sujan Dasgupta’s original story, Padmanabha Dasgupta’s screenplay and dialogues blend humour and suspense in a way that is both familiar and novel. The film, which is directed by Joydeep Mukherjee, promises to be a suspenseful thriller with a rich cultural background and a gripping plot.

The twisted story of shifting identities, coded chaos, and Eken Babu’s unmistakable knack for revealing the truth will finally be accessible to audiences on May 16. Until then, we are left to speculate: is Saswata Chatterjee the illusion that conceals the truth or the thread that unites all the layers of a city?

Priyanka Dutta