Padi Pishir Barmi Baksha (1972)

Enjoyable though uneven adaptation of Leela Majumdar’s classic children’s novel. Young hero Khokha, on the way to his uncle’s house, is told the tale of his famed Aunt Padipishi (Chhaya Devi). A formidable widow, she once tamed a bandit uncle (Bannerjee) of hers who passed himself off as a saint, extracting a precious Burmese box in return for her silence. Back in the present, a private detective (Ghosh) follows the young hero as the entire family searches for the missing treasure. Eventually the box is found in the attic, where it had been hidden by Padipishi’s no-good son Gaja. The film’s flashbacks, showing the exploits of the aunt, are in colour. The zany shooting and acting styles mix naturalism with a stylised, operatic direct address.