Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!: A well-crafted mystery

If you do not approach Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! as a racy thriller in Bollywood mode and you are happy to play along with director Dibakar Banerjee’s self-indulgent plot-meandering, here is a movie that won’t disappoint you.

This is not a racy whodunit; it is a film that celebrates its milieu more than its plot itself. And that is fine because Dibakar gets the 1940s Calcutta, which not many of us would know of other than through photographs, with believable authenticity.

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The true heroes of this movie therefore are the hundreds of people who worked to recreate the ambience. Beautifully shot, every frame of the movie is a delight in craft – not pretty post-card always but greatly evocative. Add to it compelling performances from every member of the cast, most notably by Neeraj Kabi (The Ship of Theseus). 

Yet, the film fails short of being a masterpiece (and there is no reason why a ‘detective’ film cannot be one, as the legend in Indian cinema Satyajit Ray has proved with Sonar Kella). Created from writer Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s characters, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! therefore, had what it took to be a real classic.

After all, we are talking of a complex plot that has four players – the Indian freedom fighters in Calcutta, the British, the Japanese and the Chinese. There is also the backdrop of the opium trade. What Dibakar successfully delivers is bringing to life the DNA of Calcutta, which has all these influences and yet retains its singular identity.

All these unfold, without any in-your-face attempt, and realistically even as the camera follows the pursuits of Bakshy (Sushant Singh Rajput), who is out to investigate a missing man for his son Ajit (Anand Tiwari). The search takes him to the lodge of Dr. Guha (Neeraj Kabi), and instantly, we can smell a rat. And that precisely becomes the burden of the film. With deliberate red herrings thrown in, the film often meanders and takes on a very slow rhythm.

From a missing person’s case, the plot becomes bigger, making you feel something extremely momentous is to come, until it whimpers back into something that wouldn’t shock you or awe you. Even though Dibakar is ready to make his hero appear totally lost and even have him say he was made a moron, the fact is that all the big breakthroughs in the case simply fall into his lap, coincidentally. And that is never good for a great whodunit.

The film, indeed, gets it real life and verve from its actors. Sushant makes such a spectacular jump from all his past three movies (Kai Po Che, Shuddh Desi Romance and PK) and establishes his clear credentials as a fantastic, spontaneous actor. Way to go, Sushant.

He is matched ‘same to same’ (and that is an understated joke from the film) by Anand Tiwari and Neeraj Kabi, not to mention a horde of actors who are not generally seen in mainstream Bollywood. Every actor, without being intrusive, makes their presence felt and becomes an integral part of the tapestry that Dibakar weaves.

Yet, with its lame climax, followed by moments that make you wonder if you are watching a movie or theatre (nevertheless, evocatively captured), you somehow sense a feeling of disappointment. Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! could have been a lot more than what was delivered. But Dibakar, definitely, leaves room for a sequel, if not more. Perhaps, the second time around, he will make the Ray school of filmmaking prouder still.