# A Death in the Gunj
*A Death in the Gunj* is a 2016 Indian drama film and the first feature film as writer and director of the actress [Konkona Sen Sharma](https://www.edgepedia.org/konkona-sen-sharma). Set in 1979, it follows Shyamal "Shutu" Chatterjee, a shy university student who joins a family road trip to McCluskiegunj, an old Anglo-Indian town, as an escape from a failed semester; over the course of a week his quiet unraveling goes unnoticed by the holidaying family, and the vacation ends with an implosion.[1](https://saiff.org/2016/films/death-in-the-gunj/) The film premiered at the 2016 [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival) and had its Asian premiere at the 2016 Busan International Film Festival.[2](https://mami.mumbaifilmfestival.com/media/1276/mami_festival_catalogue-2016.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | Konkona Sen Sharma's directorial debut; story by Mukul Sharma, screenplay by Sen Sharma and Disha Rindani[1](https://saiff.org/2016/films/death-in-the-gunj/) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5918074/fullcredits/) |
| Setting | 1979, McCluskiegunj, a former Anglo-Indian settlement in Jharkhand[4](https://scroll.in/article/816625/konkona-sensharmas-a-death-in-the-gunj-draws-from-a-short-story-and-real-life) |
| Lead cast | Vikrant Massey (Shutu), Ranvir Shorey (Vikram), Kalki Koechlin (Mimi), Tillotama Shome (Bonnie), Gulshan Devaiah (Nandu), Jim Sarbh (Brian), Tanuja (Anupama Bakshi), Om Puri (O.P. Bakshi)[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5918074/fullcredits/) |
| Premieres | World premiere at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival; Asian premiere at the 2016 Busan International Film Festival[2](https://mami.mumbaifilmfestival.com/media/1276/mami_festival_catalogue-2016.pdf) |
| Indian release | Commercial release on 2 June 2017[5](https://www.telegraphindia.com/jharkhand/sleepy-gunj-on-big-screen/cid/1352788) |
| Languages | English, Hindi, and Bengali[1](https://saiff.org/2016/films/death-in-the-gunj/) |
| Reception | 94% Tomatometer (16 reviews) and 80% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; 7.4/10 on IMDb from about 6,900 ratings[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_death_in_the_gunj) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5918074/) |
| Awards | 12 wins and 23 nominations total, per IMDb[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5918074/) |
## Spoilers
### Story and setting
The film is a coming-of-age story about Shutu, a shy student who uses a family road trip to McCluskiegunj to escape a failed semester. What begins as a family holiday conceals something amiss, and Shutu's quiet unraveling is overlooked by the family revelers until the week ends in tragedy.[1](https://saiff.org/2016/films/death-in-the-gunj/) The household centers on the elderly O.P. and Anupama Bakshi, an unapologetically bohemian Anglo-Indian family whose relative affluence allows a perfunctory adherence to local social mores.[8](https://brittannicus.com/2017/09/07/a-death-in-the-gunj/) Alongside Shutu are his cousin Nandu and Nandu's wife Bonnie with their young daughter Tani, the family friend Mimi, and Vikram, a newly married friend of the family who becomes Shutu's most persistent tormentor.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5918074/fullcredits/) • [9](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/a-death-in-the-gunj-busan-review/5110198.article)
Shutu's fragile state is established early: he is mourning the recent death of his father, and he lies about his exam results until his aunt reveals that his mother has written to say he failed his final exams.[9](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/a-death-in-the-gunj-busan-review/5110198.article) A cruel prank designed to scare him and a drunken seduction by Mimi deepen the fracture.[9](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/a-death-in-the-gunj-busan-review/5110198.article) The film opens with the holiday's end and then moves back a week, so a sense that something bad is coming is present from the first scene and grows as the story progresses.[10](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/movie/a-death-in-the-gunj)
## Origin in Mukul Sharma's story
The screenplay draws on "Death in McCluskie Gunj", a short story written about two decades before the film by Mukul Sharma, a science writer and journalist who is Sen Sharma's father and the former husband of the filmmaker [Aparna Sen](https://www.edgepedia.org/aparna-sen).[4](https://scroll.in/article/816625/konkona-sensharmas-a-death-in-the-gunj-draws-from-a-short-story-and-real-life) • [5](https://www.telegraphindia.com/jharkhand/sleepy-gunj-on-big-screen/cid/1352788) Sharma's story was a fictionalized retelling of a séance that took place at his parents' house in McCluskieganj sometime in the 1980s, at which the spirit was asked whether anyone in the room would die soon; one of the characters at the table died a year later. Sharma described his own story as a science fiction fantasy about the incident itself, while Sen Sharma's film is about the circumstances leading to the death, closer to a slice-of-life drama in the manner of [Satyajit Ray](https://www.edgepedia.org/satyajit-ray)'s *Aranyer Din Ratri*. In Sharma's story the geographical location is not significant, whereas the setting is central to the film's title and screenplay.[4](https://scroll.in/article/816625/konkona-sensharmas-a-death-in-the-gunj-draws-from-a-short-story-and-real-life) Sharma noted that the film was not an [Agatha Christie](https://www.edgepedia.org/agatha-christie)-style whodunit.[4](https://scroll.in/article/816625/konkona-sensharmas-a-death-in-the-gunj-draws-from-a-short-story-and-real-life)
The choice of McCluskiegunj carries its own history. Located within the tribal region of the Chhota Nagpur plateau, the town was established in the 1930s by Ernest Timothy McCluskie, a Calcutta-born Anglo-Indian, as a homeland for some 400 Anglo-Indians.[11](https://thereviewmonk.com/movie/a-death-in-the-gunj/) Sharma had close ties to the town, and the film was shot there.[5](https://www.telegraphindia.com/jharkhand/sleepy-gunj-on-big-screen/cid/1352788)
## Production
Sen Sharma wrote and directed the film, with additional screenplay work by Disha Rindani.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5918074/fullcredits/) It was produced by Honey Trehan, Abhishek Chaubey, Raagii Bhatnagar, Ashish Bhatnagar, and Vijay Kumar Swami through MacGuffin Pictures and IDream Motion Pictures Pvt. Ltd.[2](https://mami.mumbaifilmfestival.com/media/1276/mami_festival_catalogue-2016.pdf) Sirsha Ray was the cinematographer, Aarif Sheikh and Manas Mittal the editors, and Sagar Desai composed the original score.[2](https://mami.mumbaifilmfestival.com/media/1276/mami_festival_catalogue-2016.pdf) • [9](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/a-death-in-the-gunj-busan-review/5110198.article)
Ray's photography, described by one critic as brown and yellow-soaked frames, captures both cluttered interiors and dark wilderness, and Desai's background score remains pensive and largely unobtrusive.[8](https://brittannicus.com/2017/09/07/a-death-in-the-gunj/) Sen Sharma infused the film with a retro, brown-tinged palette, the color of tea or, given the characters' drinking, of whisky; the heavy drinking fuels a fortress of in-jokes and risqué banter that further excludes Shutu.[9](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/a-death-in-the-gunj-busan-review/5110198.article) Much of the dialogue among the family members is in English, with Hindi and Bengali used with the local tribal house servants.[12](https://itpworld.online/2019/09/24/not-just-bollywood-a-death-in-the-gunj-india-english-2017/)
Reported runtimes differ slightly across sources: 105 minutes at its SAIFF US premiere, 104 minutes in the MAMI festival catalog, and 1 hour 50 minutes on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb.[1](https://saiff.org/2016/films/death-in-the-gunj/) • [2](https://mami.mumbaifilmfestival.com/media/1276/mami_festival_catalogue-2016.pdf) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_death_in_the_gunj)
## Reception
The film met strong critical approval. Reviewers frequently praised Sen Sharma's direction as assured, perceptive, and well-crafted, highlighting the film's tonal control, layered characters, and emotional resonance; the most common reservation concerned the climax, described by some as anticlimactic or predictable relative to the buildup.[11](https://thereviewmonk.com/movie/a-death-in-the-gunj/) Shubhra Gupta of *The Indian Express* gave it 3.5 out of 5, calling it a layered film with memorable characters about the games people play and how they can have terrible consequences.[13](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/a-death-in-the-gunj-movie-review-kalki-koechlin-konkona-sen-sharma-vikrant-massey-star-rating-4685356/) Anupama Chopra of Film Companion rated it 4 out of 5, reading it as a timeless portrait of the "othering" dynamic in groups, and Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV, also at 4 out of 5, called it a profoundly moving portrait of an angst-ridden young man derailed by a world bereft of empathy.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_death_in_the_gunj) Wendy Ide's review for *Screen* at Busan judged it a polished, well-cast first feature positioned between the family dynamics of [Mira Nair](https://www.edgepedia.org/mira-nair)'s *Monsoon Wedding* and the cool-eyed take on thoughtless privilege in Lucrecia Martel's *La Ciénaga*, while faulting the misjudged music under the climactic scene.[9](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/a-death-in-the-gunj-busan-review/5110198.article)
A recurring critical thread concerns the film's treatment of masculinity and neglect. Commentators have read Shutu as a sensitive, introverted young man destroyed by his family's emotional neglect and the toxic masculinity of its male members, a portrait of how society fails to value gentleness in men.[14](https://www.the-criterion.com/V16/n6/2025V16n6046.pdf) *The New Yorker* described the film as a masterly depiction of how patriarchy can rot a family tree.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_death_in_the_gunj) [Vikrant Massey](https://www.edgepedia.org/vikrant-massey)'s performance as Shutu drew particular praise, with several critics and audience reviewers crediting the film's lasting impact to his portrayal.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_death_in_the_gunj)
The film also marked a late screen appearance by [Om Puri](https://www.edgepedia.org/om-puri), who died in January 2017, months before the Indian theatrical release; one review called his presence a beautiful goodbye.[11](https://thereviewmonk.com/movie/a-death-in-the-gunj/)
## References
1. [A Death in the Gunj, SAIFF 2016](https://saiff.org/2016/films/death-in-the-gunj/)
2. [MAMI Festival Catalogue 2016](https://mami.mumbaifilmfestival.com/media/1276/mami_festival_catalogue-2016.pdf)
3. [A Death in the Gunj (2016) full cast and crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5918074/fullcredits/)
4. [Konkona Sensharma's 'A Death in the Gunj' draws from a short story and real life, Scroll.in](https://scroll.in/article/816625/konkona-sensharmas-a-death-in-the-gunj-draws-from-a-short-story-and-real-life)
5. [Sleepy Gunj on big screen, The Telegraph India](https://www.telegraphindia.com/jharkhand/sleepy-gunj-on-big-screen/cid/1352788)
6. [A Death in the Gunj, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_death_in_the_gunj)
7. [A Death in the Gunj (2016), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5918074/)
8. [Review: A Death in the Gunj, Brittannicus](https://brittannicus.com/2017/09/07/a-death-in-the-gunj/)
9. ['A Death In The Gunj': Busan Review, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/a-death-in-the-gunj-busan-review/5110198.article)
10. [A Death in the Gunj, Plex](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/movie/a-death-in-the-gunj)
11. [A Death in the Gunj critic consensus and reviews, TheReviewMonk](https://thereviewmonk.com/movie/a-death-in-the-gunj/)
12. [Not Just Bollywood: A Death in the Gunj, ITP Global Film](https://itpworld.online/2019/09/24/not-just-bollywood-a-death-in-the-gunj-india-english-2017/)
13. [A Death In The Gunj movie review, The Indian Express](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/a-death-in-the-gunj-movie-review-kalki-koechlin-konkona-sen-sharma-vikrant-massey-star-rating-4685356/)
14. [Shutu in A Death in the Gunj, The Criterion (2025)](https://www.the-criterion.com/V16/n6/2025V16n6046.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 2010s › Hindi films of 2016*
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