Chaalchitro - The Frame Fatale is a 2024 Indian Bengali language crime thriller film written and directed by Pratim D. Gupta.
The film delves into the lives of four cops from Kolkata Police, as they go about investigating a series of murders rocking the city.
His relationship with wife Mili is quite rocky and he is haunted by a past trauma 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 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.
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.
Twelve years ago, some gruesome murders happened in the city where the killer had a similar modus operandi as the one now.
Bhuban initially denied to say anything, and told them to bring biryani and chicken chaap the next time they come.
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.
Kanishka later praises Ritesh for his smart move, as they have biryani, and bring shahi tukda for the other two policemen.
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.
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.
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.
The police search Prof. Dutta's house only to find a packet that the student had previously planted, which was full of decorations of the 'chaalchitro' structure.
The killer told that he tried to reach him a lot of times but Kanishka was busy making a chargesheet in order to become a hero.
Kanishka will have to reach there, plant false evidence and arrest him for the murders just like the previous time, so that he could exact revenge from his would-be wife too.
Ritesh tried to make him understand by saying that Kanishka benefitted from Mili's death, but the killer smiled and understood the scheme again, and refused to tell anything.
After a lot of digging, he found out a coffin that had a small piece of clothing sticking out of the box, which Kanishka identified to be Mili's.
In the credits scene, it is shown that Bhuban Halder is eating biryani and chicken chaap in the interrogation room at Pavlov hospital.