HAR HAR BYOMKESH (Bengali, 2015)

I have watched a few films directed by Arindam Sil and have found him to be a competent filmmaker. From his first directorial ABORTO to the sleuth caper EGOLER CHOKH to the likeable family drama DURGA SOHAY his films cover a gamut of issues and genres and his unadorned narrative style never fails to hit the bull’s eye with the audience.

I recently watched HAR HAR BYOMKESH also directed by him. The film has been shot in Kolkata and Varanasi, reminding us of Satyajit Ray’s JOY BABA FELUNATH filmed in the city of the confluence of two rivers,and a particular shot in the AS film is a direct lift from the Ray work, possibly as an ode to the master. The masterful writer Saradindu Bandopadhyay hardly disappoints with any detective story, my personal favorite being his ‘Chorabali’ and ‘ Sajarur Kata.’ This one too has death, suspense, romance, foibles of the human character and the film version weaves these elements into the proceedings along with film ingredients such as music and others to give the viewers an absorbing fare. Abir Chaterjee, Ritwik Chakraborty, Sohini Sarkar, Adil Hussain, Nusrat Jahan, Rachel White and others feature in the cast.

Bengali filmmakers have regularly given us a rich fare of detective films thanks to writers like Saradindu, Satyajit, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Sunil Ganguly, Samaresh Basu, Niharranjan Gupta and others and their creation.

Rating: 3.8 out of 5

BYOMKESH PORBO (2016)

BYOMKESH PORBO is a suspenseful thriller based on a Byomkesh Bakshi (BB) story by Saradindu Bandopadhyay. The truth-finder BB (‘Satyeneshi ‘ in Bengali) is requested by the State to investigate a case of concealment of arms in a remote town in North Bengal. A rice mill owner, a timber merchant and a couple of other businessman are the prime suspects.

BB (Abir Chaterjee) is assisted by Ajit (Ritwik Chakraborty) while solving the case. Satyabati (Sohini Sarkar) is the wife of BB. The mystery unfolds slowly, and keeps us engaged throughout. The director Arindam Sil (Aborto) packs in a song or two amidst the suspenseful unfolding of the storyline.

Rajatava Dutta, Kaushik Sen, June Maliya, Sumanta Mukherjee and Arindam Sil plays supporting characters in this intriguing tale of the famed truth-seeker.

Rating: 3.9 out of 5

Eagoler Chokh (2016)

A successful middle aged businessman is endowed with a special charm that is irresistible to women. Obviously, they’re a dime a dozen in this intriguing tale of detective Shabor Dasgupta (Saswata Chattopadhyay in the role of the private eye) penned by Shirsendu Mukhopadhyay. There’s the wife Shivangi (Maya Ahson), her friend Nandita (Payel Sarkar) who gets murdered, the wife’s sister who lands down from Singapore and her servant Janvi…
There is suspense, consequences of child abuse, conflict of good and evil, of the duality arising from the distinction between the conscious and the sub-conscious …
The unfolding of the narrative is gripping. The actors perform superbly. June Mallya acts as a psychiatrist in a supporting role. The film is directed by Arindam Sil.
Rating: 3.8 out of 5

Aborto (2013)

The film ABORTO deals partly with relationships, and also weaves in corporate politics and rivalry into the narrative. In the past we have seen films based around corporates – the Satyajit Ray films SEEMABADDHA & MAHANAGAR & the Madhur Bhandarkar CORPORATE comes to mind. The film doesn’t borrow from the mentioned films and demonstrates the director Arindam Sil’s competency in handling several characters.

The ensemble cast of Tota Ray Chaudhury, Joya Ahsan, Saswata Chatterjee, Reshmi Ghosh, Abir Chatterjee, Pijush Ganguly, Ritwik Chakraborty, Barun Chanda, Arindam Sil & a wonderful cameo by Kaushik Ganguly add to the strength of the film. Some of the characters are weak though. The clicking of clandestine photos of the philandering executive (Tota RC) with his secretary (Reshma G) by the rustic Ritwik Chakraborty which was obviously something the management would have probed further in the light of character assassination of a senior member appeared rather out of place in the scheme of the wily opponent (Saswata C).

An improved script could have truly made this a memorable film.

Rating: 3.9 out of 5