I begin this review confused. I am on a crossroads. Should I support this movie? Or deride it? Well, let me tell you a bit more about me and Byomkesh.
My first encounter with Byomkesh was through the television series on Doordarshan, where the title role was played by Rajit Kapoor. That is how most of you probably remember Byomkesh as well. An artistic, true-to-the-literature portrayal of the truth-seeker planted the seeds of an impression in my head. It was the impression of an ideal detective.
This is the image that comes to my mind when I think of Byomkesh Bakshi
It was much later, somewhere in my teenage, that I came across the “Byomkesh Samagra” by Saradindu Bandhopadhyay, a collection of all the stories of Byomkesh ever written by the great author, in its resplendent Bengali form. I will admit that the “sadhu-bhasha” (archaic form) of the Bengali language did give me headaches initially, but now I know that reading it otherwise would be like listening to recorded music instead of live. I had done that mistake once in the past with Feluda and I was not going to repeat that. I set myself to finish the tome.
The silhouette is how the author visualized him
Then it was the turn of the Bengali films. 
Although now I am aware that there were movies of Byomkesh stories much before my time, at that point of time it was something new and novel to me. With some anticipation, I watched the movie. And I liked it. I had imagined that no one could come close to the accuracy of the DD1 series, but Anjan Dutta had managed it with Abir as Byomkesh and Saswata “Bob Biswas” Chatterjee as Ajit. The movie looked as good as it felt. I had one more page to add to my treasured Byomkesh scrapbook.
(Special mention: Satyanweshi by Rituparno Ghosh is also an immaculate masterpiece when it comes to the look and feel of Byomkesh, right down to the tone of speaking)
So far so good.
Some years later I stand reinforced in my opinion that Byomkesh Bakshi is the greatest detective work ever. 
So, you can imagine my thoughts when I heard that a bollywood movie was in the making. To say the least I was defensive. My fear doubled when I heard that they had cast Sushant Singh Rajput, the romantic newcomer for the role. After that, the motion poster arrived with the painful soundtrack. Then, the action packed, scantily clad women laden trailer with Sushant in all his mono-brow glory. I am not saying that I have listed down his characteristic features from the book, but nowhere do I remember Byomkesh to have a mono-brow or look idiotic. I mean, Where were the glasses? Anyways, thanks to my sister’s persistence, I finally got to seeing it.
Here begins the list of spoilers in the shape of warnings. Byomkesh gets slapped to the ground, beaten up, thrown out, kissed, flashed by a topless actress (or singer) and a lot more that challenges your perception of the Literature enthusiast Bengali babu. With a passing mention of “Satyanweshi”, they portray it as if it was something “cool” instead of an ideal which Byomkesh lives upto. It almost felt as if satyawati was added as an afterthought, lest the movie flops and the director doesn’t get to make any movie with her character. For me, the movie doesn’t provide one inspiring “Aha!” moment. From the very onset it feels as if the plot has bitten off more (betel leaves) than it could chew. What made Byomkesh unique was his connection to everyday life, which is missing very conspicuously in this movie. This Byomkesh seems to be a delusionary vagabond who happens upon a case. All in all, it was quite challenging to see it through.
That being said, I enjoyed the movie as a movie. Quick, well paced and without dull moments, the movie gives you what it promises in its trailer- an action packed detective thriller, with more action and filmy dialogues than detection. Not that bad to spend an afternoon over if you are okay with an absolute lack of honest emotions. I mean, that is how you react when your father is confirmed dead?
Sushant, please spare us honest fans. But then again, don’t. I dare not be hypocritical here. Afterall, did I ask any questions when a naked Irene Adler strutted her stuff in front of a Sherlock who happens to use a smartphone to solve some cases at times and a Watson who is a lot more than just a narrator?
You know how they did it right? Because they weren’t pretending to do it right in the first place. They did it their own way. Whereas here is a movie which seemingly calls upon Byomkesh fans and leaves them dead on the box office floor. Now that is one murder mystery that doesn’t need solving.
Arnab Mukherjee 