A fine example of something aspiring to greatness, but ultimately let-down by the narrative of its subject-matter itself.
This one needed its writing fixed before it became a screenplay.
Here's looking at both this movie's strengths (there are a few) and weaknesses (there are many):
Swastika Mukherjee, Payel Sarkar, Debolina Dutta. 3 goddesses, uniquely characterized, the 3 strong women who prop up this otherwise muddled movie, with both the strength of their characterization, their looks and corresponding performances. These are ladies who know what they want, and how to get it, and heaven help those who stand in their way. Mukherjee especially, saddled with a character that is not all that supported by the written word here, does well to keep us guessing, and each interpretation of her character is revelatory. Looking forward to 'Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!' next month. Calling these women bold, would be an understatement. I'm sure they challenged the moral brigade as well.
Abir Chatterjee, who's played both Felu (da) and Byomkesh (da?) in their recent incarnations, takes a lesser role here, and is ever- present on the sidelines as the prime suspect in the murder of one of the leads. I thought what he did here was bold, if not particularly illuminative, considering the fairly simple plot and its eventual disappointing denouement.
Saswatha Chatterjee. I'm sure he's a good actor. Let down completely by the script, his character comes across as tired (possibly on purpose) but also cocky, arrogant and pretentious, who doesn't think twice about forcing his assumptions, wrong though they might be, down characters' throats, preying on the weak - not all intended, I'm sure. The guy who plays his sidekick is just a prop, does not matter to the tale at all, and could have been done without. Anyone expecting a Watson to Saswatha's non-Sherlock will not find what they were seeking in that department here.
Dipankar Dey plays a stronger character than the one he played in 'Badshahi Angti', but doesn't have much screen-time, though his arc turns out to be the one that's almost important.
June Malia, on the other hand, in spite of appearing caricaturish with her character's twists-and-turns, doesn't manage to convince in one of her holier-than-thou acts due to everything that came before. Performance-wise, it sure is louder-than-average, but the characterization also does her a disservice.
Much is being written about the 'real' chase sequences. The one that comes after is essentially a re-tread of the shoddy one filmed earlier, with a different criminal'. They're really, really poor, with Saswatha made to pose for the camera (a still? in this day and age?) whenever there's a pause, and that's really grating. '..Angti' might have done better in that department.
The way the narrative is peeled, layer-after-layer, in flashbacks, also gets tired after the 2nd time. Interspersing it with the narrative of a character who happens to be dead is not explained at all, and jars with the rest of the narrative.
I still am unable to understand all the positive allusions made to the foot-chases across the flick, which is gone too soon before one notices how shoddily it has been conceptualized and executed.
The score by Bickram Ghosh, on the other hand, and some of the cinematography, along with the realistic location and prod design, are what prop up the flick on the whole, along with the intent of Sil to try and make this as slick as possible. On the whole, it sure is slicker than 'Badshahi Angti', but falls miles below 'Open Tee Bioscope' (in spite of the fact that the latter doesn't belong to the 'mystery' genre, like this one does).
Some of the punch-lines belong in a mainstream flick. In spite of that, they did bring the house down, and perhaps there is something to be said for that. To me, they stood out like sore thumbs since the narrative itself did not grab my attention.
One (more) big flaw that stood out: Both the lead, and the murder victim, have to evoke some empathy in the audience's mind. There's no build-up to that at all, even from the multiple flashbacks that change our perception (and the lead detective's) of what transpired. Also, there is less detection and more flashing back going-on: not really a testament to the detection process. This was something this flick had in common with 'Yennai Arindhaal' a few weeks earlier, where an investigation made progress only when the lead beat up supporting characters and elicited confessions from them, and not by analysis of available data and using those to make conclusions - kinda vital in this genre of movie/screenplay.
All in all, can be watched on the big screen for the 3 goddesses and the technical values, but disappointing overall.
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