Byomkesh bombed!!!

It is encouraging to find such a long queue infront of the movie halls to watch a bengali flick. Two Directors in recent times have tried their hands at Byomkesh Bakshi. The first one went away unnoticed despite the sleazy posters. The film was so quickly forgotten that I cannot even remember the name of the movie or its Director! This is the second one- 'Adeem Ripu' - a screen adaptation of Sharadindu Bandopadhyay's Byomkesh series.

Anjan Dutt, having established his credentials with films like 'Bong Connection' and 'Chalo lets go', made the audience expect something really exceptional and the encouraging box office collection of the first week stands proof to it.

All shows at Nandan being housefull, I watched it at the Star theatre.

Any film adaptation of a literary work faces comparison with the actual story. The image of the characters are so deeply eked out in the readers' mind, that whenever a film is made, there is an obvious comparison with the book.

Anjan Dutt's Byomkesh Bakshi disappointed me because of its several anomalies and incongruous treatment of the script by the film-maker!

Anadi babu is murdered! The Director shows that life is as usual at Anadi's house even after his murder! With Anadi's dead body lying unattended, Anadi's friend Kalibabu is asking for tea, and even though Nanibala denies, Byomkesh insists, that its okay to have tea even if there is no milk! Death, for all its worth, deserves some grace, irrespective of who it befriends!

The costume designer has not done a good job either. Ajit's watch is a old one that needs keying in. However, Byomkesh is found wearing a quartz- ( A Fast Track I guess!) in the 1960? Naninbala Devi always wears designer Tant sareer with no sign of crease on them, no matter which time of the day she gives an appearance! The policemen are all wearing white Kolkata Police outfit, and if I am not mistaken, those days, the cops wore Khaki- wardis. White terricotton were not so much in vogue then!

Byomkesh visits Prabhat's (the adopted son of Anadi) book shop, and finds him unwell. He takes him to a Dr. and then accompanies Prabhat to his house. After that, why does he go inside Prabhat's room, what does he do? What clue did he find there, nothing is known to the audience even after the film ends.

Byomkesh knows who is the killer, however, he decides to play the surprise game with the audience and thereby distances the audience from the film to a great extent! He is the Sabjanta type with no explanation given to the audience!

How did Byomkesh even know that Nanibala witnessed the murder of Anadi? Nanibala did not tell him for sure! Byomkesh or Ajit, no one was present at the site of the murder! None of the characters give any details or clue to suggest that Nanibala had seen the murder! Did Byomkesh get a divine blessing of a third eye? Well, the audience does not get to see that!

One fails to understand what is Swastika doing in the movie and especially the climax scene? Why so much of screen space has been allotted to her remains a question till the end. Her character rightly says "I cannot understand why even I am here?" Well, she had no roles to play in the murder and yet was made a part of the last scene hearing by Byomkesh..no one knows for what! The audience was not interested to know her love story! And thats all she tells the audience and leaves. The fact that Nanibala had an out of marriage relationship, that she was a fallen woman, has already been told by Kalibabu during his inebriated conversation with Byomkesh and therefore Shiuli 's (screen name of Swastika)verbal tirade against Nanibala was unnecessary!

The riot scenes are extremely ill conceived, overdone and strikes a discordent note. Throughout the movie people run from and to every possible direction for safety from communal riots. However, Ajitesh, Byomkesh and Nripen move about the riot stricken Calcutta streets in such a manner as if nothing has happened despite a growing inferno around them! Amidst the recurring scenes of communal violence, an attempt by the film-maker to portray the contemporary social set up, the utter reluctance and indifference of the characters to the surroundings is extremely unnatural and funny at times. In real life, imagine you are walking down Park Street, and God forbid there is an all devouring fire. Is it natural to walk slowly chatting and whiling away, as if nothing has happened in the world? Is it not normal to run away for safety? It was very surprising how a seasoned filmaker like Anjan Dutt could make such an unrealistic portrayal of the locale! The same Anjan Dutt, who exploited the locale with such greatness in films like "Chalo lets go", has failed miserably in this film on this count.

All conversation of Byomkesh with Ajit , intense, or otherwise, is lit up by a cigarette! The smoking is so overdone that at times I felt, Charminar was the key funding agency of the movie!

A big plus in this film is Rudraneil. The dark, short and overweight actor is getting better with each of his movies. His performance is absolutely fantastic and lends complete credence to his character. Abir Chattopadhyaya- aka Byomkesh Bakshi has done reasonably well, and Saswata Chatterjee looks good. Nanibala Roy looks more like a woman of nineties than sixties except for her glasses.....and is pathetic in her sobbing attempts! Maybe she should take a few acting tips from Rundraneil..who manages to get the audience by his side despite being the murderer by merit of his acting acumen.

Anjan Dutt's Byomkesh Bakshi, does not live up to its expectation! It fails to create the lasting impact in the audience's mind...the urge to see it more than once! That is a rare distinction achieved by all the Feluda movies made by Satyajit Ray. A 'Sonar Kella', or a 'Joybaba Felunath' creates interest in our mind even today...even though we have by-hearted the dialogues and scenes!

Had I not had the intention to write this blog, I too, would have cleaned up the hard disk of my brain off this movie soon after I came out the theatre hall!