{"id":781,"date":"2015-04-10T13:59:42","date_gmt":"2015-04-10T13:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=781"},"modified":"2015-05-01T11:35:24","modified_gmt":"2015-05-01T11:35:24","slug":"byomkesh-bakshi-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/byomkesh-bakshi-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The Many Faces of Byomkesh Bakshi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Byomkesh Bakshi was \u2018born\u2019 in 1932. He was around 24 at the time. He remains as young, as sharp and as shrewd as he was then 83 years later. That makes him around 107 years old. But his charm does not fade. In Dibakar Banerjee\u2019s Detective Byomkesh Bakshy<\/em>, set in 1943 during the fag end of World War II, we find in Sushant Singh Rajput a fast-paced, action-oriented and charming Byomkesh different from the sedate, reticent, caustic-tongued, intellectual and acutely observant Byomkesh we were first introduced to by Basu Chatterji in his television series Byomkesh Bakshi<\/em> in Hindi on Doordarshan in 1993 and again in 1997.<\/p>\n

\"Byomkesh<\/p>\n

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy <\/strong>
\nDetective Byomkesh Bakshy<\/em> is a stylised, lavishly mounted, fast-paced period piece constructed like a collage of different Byomkesh Bakshi stories telescoping into one another returning to the one that created the legend \u2013 Satyanweshi<\/em>. This is more an effective recreation of the \u2018period\u2019 than a reconstruction of Byomkesh Bakshi. Satyawati is as shocking as only Dibakar can make her while Anguri adds the sizzle. For those who have not read Byomkesh Bakshi, the film is packaged \u2018entertainment\u2019. For those who know Byomkesh, the film does not work after a point of time. It is more a Dibakar Banerjee film than a film on the famous detective. The film is larger than the character and this blurs the uniqueness of Byomkesh, a character who reappears in one story after another, never ageing, never fading or jading, ready to take on cases more out of passion than for money. Right now, a serial, Byomkesh Bakshi<\/em> is being telecast on weekends on a Bengali satellite channel featuring Gaurav Chakraborty as Byomkesh. He presents a very young, handsome and fresh Byomkesh but the actor who plays Ajit fails him completely though Satyavati is charming. It is picking up TRPs every week.<\/p>\n

The Legend<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/a>

Picture Imperfect and Other Byomkesh Bakshi Mysteries<\/a>\"\"<\/p><\/div>\n

Byomkesh Bakshi is a legend. He is a fictional private detective created by Saradindu Bandopadhyay. Byomkesh solves crimes with his mind-reading skills combined with sharp intelligence and skills of observation. The first Byomkesh Bakshi work, Pather Kanta<\/em> appeared in 1932 but Byomkesh was first introduced to Ajit in Satyanweshi<\/em>, a friendship that remained till the last novel. Though Bandopadhyay stopped writing Byomkesh stories after writing ten by 1936, the popularity of Byomkesh forced him to write 22 more detective stories after a gap of 15 years. Byomkesh hated the word \u2018detective\u2019 attached to his name and created his own title \u2018Satyanweshi\u2019 to explain his main function\u00a0 \u2013 a seeker of truth. Byomkesh Bakshi is probably the best detective in Bengali literature till date.<\/p>\n

His popularity spans three generations of Bengalis across the world and two generations of Doordarshan viewers in India. Filmmakers from Basu Chatterji to Satyajit Ray, Manju Dey to Swapan Ghosal, Rituparno Ghosh to Anjan Dutt\u00a0 have made celluloid and television versions of some Byomkesh story or another. The latest in this bunch who find the charisma of Byomkesh irresistible are Bengali filmmaker Saibal Mitra and Bollywood filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee.<\/p>\n

Indian cinema and television has by now presented almost a dozen Byomkesh Bakshis. Which one have we liked the most and which we did not? Thanks to Basu Chatterji, the non-Bengalis who saw Chatterjee\u2019s series, which had numerous repeat telecasts on DD till recently, know Byomkesh Bakshi quite well. So, it is surprising that Bollywood took so long to wake up to the brilliant plotlines and timeless value of this universal detective rooted so completely and so seamlessly in the Bengali ethos, culture and lifestyle. Whether he travels to Pune or to Patna, he prides in his Bengali identity and this sets him apart.<\/p>\n

The Unconvincing Byomkesh<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Satyajit<\/a>

Satyajit Ray’s Chiriakhana with Uttam Kumar as Byomkesh<\/a>\"\"<\/p><\/div>\n

The first Byomkesh Bakshi to grace the Bengali screen was Uttam Kumar picked by Satyajit Ray to play the detective in Chiriakhana<\/em> (1967). Byomkesh Bakshi’s appeal as the self-styled inquisitor, a detective not by profession but by passion, has found him a dedicated following among generations of readers. Chiriakhana,<\/em> with a group of excellent veteran performers was a huge success with Uttam Kumar as Byomkesh bagging his first National Award and Ray received the National Award for best direction. But Chiriakhana<\/em> will be remembered as Ray\u2019s bad film. Uttam Kumar made a very unconvincing Byomkesh Bakshi. His star image came in the way of making him believable as Byomkesh. From his \u2018distanced\u2019 performance, it seemed that he lost interest in the role and the film halfway through. Uttam Kumar was as brilliant an actor as he was popular as a star. But he looks absurd disguised as the Japanese horticulturist Okakura.<\/p>\n

Byomkesh is tailored and styled to fit into the star image of Uttam Kumar who comes across as a dashing, street-smart private detective, a bachelor while Ajit, unlike in the story, is married. Byomkesh\u2019s bachelor pad is stuffed with scientific instruments, a skeleton and even a baby python, miles away from the married Byomkesh Bakshi living a normal family life with wife Satyavati, friend Ajit and little Khoka who is kept away from the stories. This \u2018mainstreaming\u2019 makes it easy for readers and audience to identify with him than with Uttam Kumar, the super star. Ray turned Byomkesh into a footloose and fancy-free man who is more Uttam Kumar than Byomkesh. But he ends up being neither because Uttam Kumar can hardly be accepted without at least a hint of romance written into the script. Uttam Kumar as Byomkesh is perhaps the biggest piece of miscasting by Ray in his entire career.<\/p>\n

A Failed Experiment<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Bollywood

Bollywood filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh is cast as Byomkesh Bakshi with Anindyo Chatterjee playing Ajit in Rituparno Ghosh\u2019s Satyanweshi (2013)<\/p><\/div>\n

Rituparno Ghosh\u2019s Satyanweshi<\/em> (2013), an adaptation not of Satyanweshi<\/em> but of another novel Chorabali <\/em>(Quicksand) also failed for different reasons. \u00a0The original story is a nail-biting suspense happening away from Calcutta in a small \u2018kingdom\u2019 where Byomkesh and Ajit are invited to solve the mystery of a missing accountant. Bollywood filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh is cast as Byomkesh Bakshi with Anindyo Chatterjee playing Ajit. Perhaps Ghosh\u2019s choice of Sujoy was a deliberate act of moulding Byomkesh against the grain and making him a bit effeminate. The experiment failed. One can play around with plots and storylines, with sub-plots and cameos but playing around with the central character who is a legend in the public mind is just not done. Sujoy looks too young as Byomkesh, clean-shaven, clad in Byomkesh\u2019s original dhuti-punjabi<\/em> with a shawl thrown in. He invests the character with plucky arrogance but minus the dignity Byomkesh is known for. Anindyo\u2019s Ajit complements him very well and is more visible than Ajit in most other films.<\/p>\n

The script prioritizes the relationship element over the thriller element, mostly a Rituparno creation not in the original text. \u00a0This makes it a sad sub-text of the narrative. Rituparno said that he had taken only the core of the original and then wrote a different story. This transforms Byomkesh Bakshi from a detective to a family counsellor to friend Himangshu in his disturbed, barren married life. Satyanweshi <\/em>could have wallowed in atmosphere, wrapped it around the viewers to enmesh and suspend them within a thick mood of intrigue and mystery. It does not.<\/p>\n