Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! review: Timeless, great casting, splendid art-direction; Dibakar's magic continues...
Excellent art direction, good camera work and screenplay. Well edited. And the film belongs to Dibakar Banerjee. He has a perfect leading man, Sushant Singh Rajput, who, upon making some good script choices may be here to stay even a couple of decades later; that much potential this actor has! On a lighter note, he could soon start giving Emraan Hashmi a run for his serial kisser tag.
Dibakar Banerjee and his team have made a film International style, truly... I did wonder a couple of times during the movie though if he was more than a wee-bit influenced by Guy Ritchie's direction of the Sherlock Holmes films. May be, considering that Guy Ritchie made his first movie in 2009, while this one has been running in Dibakar's mind since 2007.
But that does not take away any credit from this maverick director, whose films have always been a joy to watch and learn from. The pace does get slow, at times, and could have been more engaging, but it's still totally 'worth the wait' - and original.
"Great music!", would be an understatement. I like how the film is of a period setting and yet the music so contemporary! (Now, THAT is uber-cool.) What makes it better is that it's well-fitted.
And yes, one of THE best art directions in Indian cinema, I think.
Sushant Singh Rajput re-adapts Byomkesh in a refreshing manner. A complete natural, with excellent screen presence.
Swastika Mukherjee is impressive. So is Anand Tiwari, who first comes to Bakshy asking for help in finding his missing father, to later accompany him a la Watson.
The chemistry between Bakshy and Tiwari's character Ajit comes across nicely on screen. Even the rapport between Bakshy and Dr. Guha is developed very well...
Honey Trehan has done a commendable job as the casting director.
Take a bow, Dibakar Banerjee for taking a beautiful risk and 're characterizing Bakshy. Great eye for detail, but did Camel matches have the same cover back then? Possibly not... :)
The climax is one of the more engaging ones in our cinema, I'd say, with a deadly ending, paving room for more in this series. Sure, yeh dil maange more!
In the sequel, I'd like the director to be more subtle, though. I hope to see a day when our movies don't explain every single thing making it look like a classroom, and unnatural... We could do well with more subtlety and sarcasm.
Neeraj Kabi, as Dr Guha, is mind-blowing. So much so that he deserves a standing ovation! I just got to know that he is also in The Ship of Theseus, giving me more reason to go lend the DVD, as I've been procrastinating watching this enough!
Meiyang Chаng is pleasing to watch and has a good role that he handles with maturity.
The City of Joy is re-created in a very enticing manner. The refreshing re-characterization of Byomkesh Bakshy was a pleasant surprise, as I could not imagine watching anyone else but Rajit Kapoor play the detective.
I wonder what it must be like playing an assistant director to someone like Dibakar Banerjee or Neeraj Pandey... why, even Ayan Mukherjee! Three cheers to the new generation of Hindi filmmakers!
I pray that this film does well as the setting-up for the sequel was more than welcoming, in the end. :)
Dibakar Banerjee and his team have made a film International style, truly... I did wonder a couple of times during the movie though if he was more than a wee-bit influenced by Guy Ritchie's direction of the Sherlock Holmes films. May be, considering that Guy Ritchie made his first movie in 2009, while this one has been running in Dibakar's mind since 2007.
But that does not take away any credit from this maverick director, whose films have always been a joy to watch and learn from. The pace does get slow, at times, and could have been more engaging, but it's still totally 'worth the wait' - and original.
"Great music!", would be an understatement. I like how the film is of a period setting and yet the music so contemporary! (Now, THAT is uber-cool.) What makes it better is that it's well-fitted.
And yes, one of THE best art directions in Indian cinema, I think.
Sushant Singh Rajput re-adapts Byomkesh in a refreshing manner. A complete natural, with excellent screen presence.
Swastika Mukherjee is impressive. So is Anand Tiwari, who first comes to Bakshy asking for help in finding his missing father, to later accompany him a la Watson.
The chemistry between Bakshy and Tiwari's character Ajit comes across nicely on screen. Even the rapport between Bakshy and Dr. Guha is developed very well...
Honey Trehan has done a commendable job as the casting director.
Take a bow, Dibakar Banerjee for taking a beautiful risk and 're characterizing Bakshy. Great eye for detail, but did Camel matches have the same cover back then? Possibly not... :)
The climax is one of the more engaging ones in our cinema, I'd say, with a deadly ending, paving room for more in this series. Sure, yeh dil maange more!
In the sequel, I'd like the director to be more subtle, though. I hope to see a day when our movies don't explain every single thing making it look like a classroom, and unnatural... We could do well with more subtlety and sarcasm.
Neeraj Kabi, as Dr Guha, is mind-blowing. So much so that he deserves a standing ovation! I just got to know that he is also in The Ship of Theseus, giving me more reason to go lend the DVD, as I've been procrastinating watching this enough!
Meiyang Chаng is pleasing to watch and has a good role that he handles with maturity.
The City of Joy is re-created in a very enticing manner. The refreshing re-characterization of Byomkesh Bakshy was a pleasant surprise, as I could not imagine watching anyone else but Rajit Kapoor play the detective.
I wonder what it must be like playing an assistant director to someone like Dibakar Banerjee or Neeraj Pandey... why, even Ayan Mukherjee! Three cheers to the new generation of Hindi filmmakers!
I pray that this film does well as the setting-up for the sequel was more than welcoming, in the end. :)
Comments