The television series directed by Basu Chatterjee
starring Rajit Kapur and KK Raina has made it
impossible to picture the Bengali sleuth
Byomkesh Bakshi being played by any other actor
on screen. But Dibakar Banerjee took on the
challenge and cast a young Sushant Singh Rajput
to play the role.
Byomkesh is India's answer to Hercule Poirot and
Sherlock Holmes. Dibakar raised the expectations
with his chic trailers, and smart marketing not
revealing his plan with the detective's character.
The film is 'Bakshy's' beginnings, the storyline of
the movie is inspired by two of author
Sharadindu Bandopadhyay's stories but with the
director's own twist. The character grows
throughout the film and Sushant has done justice
to the responsibility placed upon him.
The movie will keep you on the edge of your
seats. The plot has twists and turns and doesn't
slack off. The treatment is very Tarantinoesque
with rococo style art direction, sharp dialogues,
and heavy background music. It would have been
unbelievable that heavy metal plays in the
background of a movie set in India, in the early
1940s. But it has to be watched to be bound by
the spell that all these musician's (the music has
been given by various artists including Madboy
Mink, Sneha Khanwalkar, Joint Family etc,) cast
and the tracks hit the mark without overpowering
the film. The soundtrack done by a ensemble of
lesser known artists is a masterstroke played by
Banerjee.
Neeraj Kabi as Dr Guha is fantastic. He
underplays his role throughout to emerge as one
of the strongest characters of the movie. Sushant
has played with a composure few actors can
boast of.
Bengali actress Swastika Mukherjee,(as Anguri
Devi) whose character was based on the
notorious spy cum exotic dancer Mata Hari, is
seductive at times, and at times she fails to
make the impact which a layered character like
her could have. Anand Tiwari plays the soft
spoken Ajeet babu with panache.
Dibakar has attempted to include deaths and
murders in the movie without going 'Dabbang' on
his audience. The gore exists but (partly due to
censorship) it does not overwhelm the main
theme of the movie. The 'whodunit' format of the
first half is quickly twisted into looking at the
larger picture. The one villain of the movie will be
revealed pretty quickly, but for a reason. The
people who have read the original books would
probably predict the first half, but the second
half is meshed in the first story with subtlety.
The details of the movie are worth a mention.
The costumes by Manish Malhotra prove that the
go-to-glamour guy of Bollywood is more than just
dressing up divas in fashionable clothes.
Although not perfected, the research and the
hardwork shows in the movie. The sets by
Vandana Kataria is an ode to pop culture and fits
the feel of the movie.
The only qualm with the entire movie would
possibly be the slightly long winded revelation in
the climax. The explanation of the motive, as all
detective stories must do could have been shorter
and the mad man act by the villain was totally
avoidable. The action sequence that follows is a
fantastic tribute to the neo-noir cinema of the
40s and the 50s.
That aside, the gripping story, and crisp editing
makes it a nail-biting watch. The end points
towards a sequel and one eagerly awaits it. The
genre of crime thrillers has been oft attempted
but only a few have managed to impress as
much as Dibakar's 'Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!'
does.
The film has managed to bring back a popular
Indian character to the limelight, and the movie
does justice to the genre. Watch it for the
packaging of the movie, music, lights, art
direction and the story – they all fit together for
an experience to remember.
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