Satyanweshi Byomkesh Film Review
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Satyanweshi Byomkesh Film Review
Once again, Byomkesh and his intriguing tales make their way to the big screen. With each new adaptation, a fresh ensemble of talented actors brings the beloved Bengali sleuth to life. It is fascinating to witness the unwavering enthusiasm of Bengalis for these crime thrillers. Despite a decrease in the number of Puja releases this year, the genre of detective films continues to captivate our attention. It seems that our affinity for mysteries and the enigmatic world of Byomkesh remains unwavering.
Anyway, the quintessential Bong satyanweshi (truthseeker) is back and how! We see Calcutta in 1971. The coalition government of United Front is warming up for elections. While Naxalbari movement is gaining its momentum in West Bengal, battle for freedom in East Pakistan under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is also being consolidated. Our new Byomkesh has a lot of swag. He is politically aware as well. He helps Indian government, frees a muktijodha and lectures United Front minister for bashing up young Naxal workers. His friend, Ajit (ably played by Rudranil), is a lot smarter in this film too. He is also a sensitive soul.
Magna Mainak infuses a lot of political drama along with the inter-personal relationships in politician Santosh’s (Sumanta Mukhopadhyay) residence. Heena Mullick (Ayoshi Talukdar), who used to stay in the house, dies. Byomkesh’s friend, Nengti, wants the sleuth to help and he meets the other stakeholders. What starts of as a relationship drama, turns into an espionage story and betrayal becomes more than just heartbreaks.
It is not a film that is dotted with a lot of chase sequences and thrill elements. But that doesn’t interfere with the pace of the film. Our satyanweshi Byomkesh talks and thinks, like the character from the book, and that is its charm. However, the film suffers from the monotony of Byomkesh movies. Our sharp, intelligent and agile truthseeker falls prey to Tollywood. For more than a decade, we saw him being constructed and deconstructed by filmmakers and yet falling short of creating a masterpiece that matches the literary character. Sayantan has his own style of telling stories. However, his signature racy shots that we saw in his previous ventures go missing soon after the film starts. He falls in the trap of Tollywoodification of Byomkesh and hence, the film fails to stand out.
All said and done, it is a film that showcases very good acting. Parambrata does a good job as Byomkesh. Rudranil also is very convincing as Ajit. Anjan Dutt, who steps down from the directorial chair of the Byomkesh saga he initiated in Bengali films, has once again proved that he is a good actor. He portrays the character of Rabi Barma very well. Sumanta and Gargee RoyChowdhury (as Sukumari) too deliver good performance. But the real stunner here is Suprabhat Das. He is a very able actor and fits the character of Santosh’s hot-headed son Uday to the T. We look forward to seeing him more in our films. Swaroopa Ghosh as Chameli has also presented a bold character.