One thing is certain, slowly but surely, Indian cinema
is changing for the better.
We may not be right up there with the best as yet and we
still produce lots of garbage masquerading as cinema, but when you watch a Hindi
movie with no cringe worthy moments and you unabashedly compare it with good international
movies in the same genre, things definitely are moving in the right direction.
This change is being led by directors like Dibakar Banerjee.
Already having feathers like “Kholsa ka Ghosla” in his cap, Banerjee is a clear
winner again in “Detective Byomkesh Bakshy” and delivers a stylish crime drama
with aplomb.
The nostalgic or the purist, who were born and brought up
with the cool and suave Rajat Kapoor in the Doordarshan series with the same
name, or those that have a fixed idea of “Satyanveshi” in their minds through readings
and depictions in other movies, may take time to accept Sushant Singh Rajput as
the famous detective.
This depiction Byomkesh is arrogant initially, clearly has
his human shortcomings and Rajput as an actor does not try hard to fit into any
mould. This has its pros and cons.
While it is always advisable for an actor not to copy anyone
and become one’s own character, one may ask how a Bengali babumoshai of Kolkata
in the 1940s can have such impeccable Hindi with no mother tongue influence whatsoever
and no real mannerisms of a young Bengali lad, ironically while every other
character looked and behaved more Bengali. Others may feel would it have been
better to cast someone like Rajkumar Rao as the protagonist.
Having said this and the above points apart, Rajput does make the most of it, honestly works
hard, grows into the role and becomes very good by the climax.
Ajit contacts Byomkesh to find his father, a chemical
scientist, who has gone missing. Byomkesh starts staying in the boarding house
where Ajit’s father used to stay just before he went missing and starts unravelling
the mystery along with Anukul Guha, the lodge owner.
The first story of Sharadindu Banerjee in the actual Byomkesh
series starts in a hostel as well, in the backdrop of a couple of murders, but
the similarity ends there. Unlike the actual “humble” Byomkesh stories that constitute
theft, impersonation or a couple of murders at the most, involving domestic or
local issues, the plot for this movie is like a huge canvass.
Highly complex, but makes sense as we are slowly able to
join the dots. The overall plot includes the Second World War, the Kolkata
bombings by Japan, powerful politicians and the opium mafia of China, alongside
dead bodies and corpses found at every plot point.
The supporting cast is simply excellent. The character of
Ajit is not what Sharadindu Banerjee wrote, but has been very well played by
the ‘seasoned’ Anand Tiwari. Neeraj Kabi as the lodge owner is a revelation, excellent acting and
we must see more of him in the future. Swastika Mukherjee who was the leading
lady in the highly acclaimed and awarded Bengali movie “Jatishwar”, plays the
role of a dangerous seductress to perfection. Meiyang Chang, Divya Menon as
Satyavati, the other housemates and characters are competent.
If “Kahaani” showed contemporary Kolkata with finesse,
Banerjee has been able to depict pre Independence Kolkata with mastery. The
trams, the clutter, the beauty, the Howrah bridge, the British, the Japanese,
the politicians of those times, all woven together in a gripping screenplay.
The cinematography is brilliant, the background music and
songs add to the intense situations.
One cannot help but compare with movies like “Sherlock
Holmes: A Game of Shadows”. Some of the scenes seem to be inspired by this
Sherlock flick, sometimes during the build-up and during the climax. No one can
accuse Banerjee of plagiarism though; this can be termed as positive influence
because nothing has been lifted directly, except the presentation in some
sequences.
Overall Banerjee scores because while Holmes was transformed
into a James Bond in the said Hollywood movie braving cannons and missiles, Bakshy is still largely a "drawing
room detective" in this one, solving complex situations and motives in his mind
and waiting for that one elusive missing clue and then for his Eureka moment.
As the director, Banerjee did the right thing to spice up and tweak the
character to keep up with current audiences, while keeping the soul of the character
intact.
The climax is a notch lower than the build-up and the final
scenes that were put in only as a platform for the second part are a bit hammy.
I would wait for part 2 though, 4 stars for part one. 3.5
for the movie and 0.5 because we are making such movies!
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