Factory Siren | Bengal Freedom Movement | Japanese Gang War | Chinatown | Chemist | Paan Box | Opium | Detective | Newspaper | Ganges River
What if I tell you there is a fictional detective story which connects all the keywords mentioned above? What if I tell you that Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is one of the most well-equipped detective movie made in Bollywood? In 21st century, the other detective movie coming close to this was Sujoy Ghosh‘s Kahaani (please don’t say Tarkieb). But the reason why I love Dibakar Banerjee‘s movies is the depth and intensity of the script involving all the characters in tremendous harmony. And he has done it again.
Byomkesh Bakshi basically is a popular fictional detective figure in Bengali literature. The character was created by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay and he wrote 32 stories between 1932 and 1970.
Dibakar introduced a highly impressive story sketching a war-torn Calcutta of the pre-independence in which Byomkesh takes the case of a lost man whose fate lies under an evil genius. Byomkesh is lost in the open secrets and discoveries but his skills and wits are his answer to every threat.
Being used to of watching many international detective programs, I found the outcome of movie very freshly baked in its genre. The reason is a diverse environment and acceptance of Bengali rich literature. A powerful story transformed and wonderfully presented by a better director.
Movie offers a quality of story-telling in a ridiculously fluctuated pace. When Byomkesh begins spying, movie goes slow. When Byomkesh investigates, movie goes fast. Between the tones, he pauses the viewers at some dramatic scenes to capture more attention.
With the seriousness of the script, there is unbelievably dark humor at some portions. Soundtracks are attractive and again fresh to your ears, you surely won’t expect some hard metal in 40s Calcutta. Soundtracks are equally balanced and compiled of Bengali, Hindi and English numbers.
Performance is flying carpet where outstanding performances deserve huge compliment. Anand Tiwari as Byomkesh’s sidekick, Swastika Mukherjee as dancer and spy, Meiyang Chang as opium dealer are performers that cannot be ignored. Sushant Singh Rajput as detective Byomkesh was a decent pick but very challenging at the initial stage of his career. He is talented and I appreciate to take this challenge. Actors like Akshay Kumar, Ayushmann Khurana or Abhay Deol could have played this role very well.
The best among the performers was theater legend Neeraj Kabi as Dr.Guha who runs a male hostel. Reports are that Dibakar’s first pick was Aamir Khan for such a vital role but he rejected for Dhoom 3???
Overall this surely is one of the five best Hindi movies of the year for me.
Rating: 8.8/10
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Sami Naik | Film Critic 