Despite watchable stars and a gorgeously rendered 1940s-Calcutta setting, a convoluted plot makes this detective yarn feel longer than a prison sentence
Has there ever been an exclamation mark as misleading as the one in the title of this film? Exclamation marks mean urgency, excitement, exuberance – think Mars Attacks!; Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!; Hello, Dolly! If you see an exclamation mark, the understanding is that this way adventure lies. But adventure fails to permeate the listlessness of this overlong, self-indulgent would-be thriller.
Directed by the much-lauded National film award-winner Dibakar Banerjee, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is an origins story for Bengali author Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s hugely popular gumshoe. Let’s begin with the good news. It’s set in a spectacular 1940s Calcutta meticulously recreated by Banerjee – a pulsating hub of gangsters and political activists that is a world away from the customarily stately and strangulated Raj-era period drama. The cast is strong,...
Has there ever been an exclamation mark as misleading as the one in the title of this film? Exclamation marks mean urgency, excitement, exuberance – think Mars Attacks!; Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!; Hello, Dolly! If you see an exclamation mark, the understanding is that this way adventure lies. But adventure fails to permeate the listlessness of this overlong, self-indulgent would-be thriller.
Directed by the much-lauded National film award-winner Dibakar Banerjee, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is an origins story for Bengali author Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s hugely popular gumshoe. Let’s begin with the good news. It’s set in a spectacular 1940s Calcutta meticulously recreated by Banerjee – a pulsating hub of gangsters and political activists that is a world away from the customarily stately and strangulated Raj-era period drama. The cast is strong,...
- 4/11/2015
- by Faiza S Khan
- The Guardian - Film News
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