A Death in the Gunj

A shy young man named Shyamlal "Shutu" Chatterjee goes along with relatives on a family outing that should be a restful escape, but the trip instead exposes simmering resentments and old hurts. As conversations turn petty and pranks edge into cruelty, Shutu's discomfort grows into something darker. The group includes flirtatious and sharp-tongued acquaintances, a provocative outsider, and relatives who swap jokes that sting more than they amuse. Small humiliations, misread intentions, and the pressure to perform socially escalate over several days, and the mood shifts from nostalgic to tense without any obvious single cause.

Released in 2017, the film was directed by Konkona Sen Sharma and credits Mukul Sharma as its creator, marking a notable directorial effort from an actor-turned-filmmaker.

The movie had a fairly limited theatrical release and drew most of its attention through festival screenings and word of mouth, rather than big commercial returns.

Since coming out, A Death in the Gunj has been talked about for its eerie domestic atmosphere and the way it lingers after you leave the cinema. Performances by Vikrant Massey, Jim Sarbh, Tillotama Shome, and Kalki Koechlin are often singled out, and scenes of awkward social cruelty have been referenced in discussions about toxic group dynamics in contemporary Indian cinema.

Critics and audiences have tended to respond well to the film's mood and character work, reflected in a 7.028/10 vote average from 53 votes on the cited platform. The film focuses on themes of masculinity, insecurity, familial expectation, and social performance, and it relies more on mood and interpersonal friction than on plot mechanics. The result is intimate and unsettling, a study of how small slights and unspoken tensions can build into something much larger.