Shri Swapankumarer Badami Hyenar Kobole

Oh I am so happy and nostalgic. I found myself whistling inside the cinema hall after decades, at the entry of Deepak Chatterjee! I forgot I turned 50 a few months ago.

This movie could have been a tad shorter, shorn off some excess.. but that said, it is an ode to first Universe of bengali pulp literature, the page turners of my and my elder bro's childhood.....the collective magical times of that generation.

Smartly crafted, intelligently scripted, passionately acted, luridly costumed....it shamelessly shuts up logic and unleashes a tale of such fun and over-the-top ness.. that we are reminded that it takes a genius to play the fool.

There are touches of nonlinear time flows, magic realism, subtle digs and sarcasms...references to cult movies...but these are plastic words and let me stop here.. simply go and dive into it.

The façade of decency and sophistication in bengalees is not unknown, it seems that pseudo-intellectualism is the only thing we now have as a community, we are clinging to the fossils of greatness, resorting to milking them until they dry, and it is drying. Debaloy Bhattacharya's 'Shri Swapankumarer Badami Hyenar Kobole (2024)' may not be an anger-filled ultimatum to the fossilized culture we have, but the intention is clear from the very beginning. The film surely takes a jibe at the decaying heritage of a community that pioneered art, culture, and music back then.

Debaloy Bhattacharya interestingly resorts to channel his take through reestablishing a pulp genre detective who used to roam around readers' hearts and hands way before 'Byomkesh' and 'Feluda' came. But this time, the detective is placed in modern-day Kolkata, where the existence of pulp fiction is a distant memory, where there is no room for something fresh and organic in any forms of art be it cinema or literature.

Deepak Chatterjee(Abir) is a once glorious pulp detective who is now guarding an already rotten library as a night guard, he is weary, he is tired, and he is having conversations with his creator Swapan Kumar(Paran Bandhopadhyay ), cursing him for lack of realism in his characters, logic in his stories and also refusing to be part of any other new stories starring him.

The conversations between them act as a meta-commentary of the drought in the creativity of Bengali films, the façade of sophistication of Bengali audiences. As an actor, Abir has essayed two most beloved sleuths in Bengali literature, and now he has sidelined himself from playing them, so the character of a world-weary detective works both ways, both on the surface and meta-level. It seems like fatigue has come over by playing the same characters over and over again with no room for innovation in them.

Debaloy Bhattacharya is an avid pulp fiction worshipper, where any director could have bastardized the nature of the source material by being edgy, he never lets that lash go out of his hand. Although the film is self-conscious of its pulpy nature, over-the-top dialogues, and cartoonish villains, it never shies away from the essence of pulp that Swapankumar used to serve its readers. But there is a certain limit to those fictions in an ever-changing world, a certain expiry date of cheap thrills found in those fictions.

In the film, the writer and his character tussle in debates about whether changing your art through time is viable or remaining orthodox and rigid in your approach works or not.

The creator and creation are involved in creative differences throughout the film, can a character survive without his creator is surely a metaphor for the importance of writers in a film. The Writers Guild strike and the threat of AI takeover signify that Debaloy is not only criticizing Bengali films but as a whole the phenomenon of demeaning writers everywhere.

As absurdities crawl in the narrative, we can't help but smile but immediately the self-conscious nature of the narrative makes us question how long these convenient tropes prevalent in Bengali cinema will work. It is a spectacular achievement in balancing out those two which Debaloy does with flying colors, maybe sometimes he is too self-indulgent but that's forgivable.

Abir is so well suited for this role, and so is our veteran Paran Bandopadhyay whose chemistry is the USP of this film, maybe this is the most unique character played by Abir in his career.

The supporting cast although good adds nothing extra to the narrative.

If you take out the social commentaries, there is nothing such as a convincing storyline anywhere, maybe because of its pulpy nature, but still it could have created memorable side characters especially when there is a clear indication of a sequel.

Also, the spectacular editing gives us a nostalgic trip to the book jackets back then, with the stunts visually synchronous to browsing comic strips. The spectacular monochromatic lighting, and gorgeous visuals all speak for the technical fluency in the film.

Debaloy Bhattacharya has always tried to experiment with his films, sometimes they are successful, sometimes they are not but still he experiments. This film belongs to the former category, it's a long-awaited subversion of telling a Bengali detective story.

I recently watched "Shri Swapankumarer Badami Hyenar Kobole," and unfortunately, it fell far short of my expectations. Despite the promising premise, the execution left much to be desired.

Firstly, the storyline lacked coherence and depth. It felt disjointed, with poorly developed characters and confusing plotlines that left me struggling to stay engaged. The pacing was inconsistent, with slow moments that failed to build tension and rushed scenes that left important details overlooked.

For me, the most painful part was the disconnect and incoherence in the storyline, which my "buddhi-jibi"(educated) brain just couldn't take after a certain point....

Really, the worst movie starring Abir, by a longshot. Sorry Abir.

I am dead watching this and my spirit is giving this warning not to watch. Total failure of a experiment. Some people can fake it that they like it to show how creative their mind is but trust me it's a total time waste and most disturbing is they know that they are not making any sense and expect the people to watch shamelessly and the wrongfully depicted scene to be accepted by audience. The only thing I liked in the movie is Shruti Das's presence. Everytime she comes in screen it's engaging. She can easily be said the epitome of hotness in Bengali movie nowadays. I want to watch more of her in coming cinemas.

This film is a mess. Neither it engages you, not it gives you a thrilling storyline. Apart from Abir, the rest of the cast is completely miscast. Abir also has done a very poor job comparing to his work in Rawktobeej. The acting of the lady cop/detective is very forced, her looks are horrible. If you are making a movie where it is mandatory to read the reference books, then you have failed as a filmmaker. The presence of Mr Swapankumar is so irritating that you would want to skip his portion instantly. I was waiting for this film to arrive in Hoichoi, but I was so deeply disappointed. This type of films make me lose my faith in Kolkata films.