Mishawr Rawhoshyo is an excellent tribute to Sunil Gangopadhyay and a must watch in this festive season
I remember coming back from my last semester examination, excited, and running to my bed where I would always find the latest 'pujobarshikhi' (Special puja edition) of 'Anandamela'. 'Kakababu' stories were always the first ones I would read. In a magazine fiilled with detective stories, they were refreshingly different. Kakababu is an unique character. He is a cripple walking on crutches, but this does not stop him from scaling Everest or fighting terrorists. He is is a person with strong will and confidence and is a wonderful creation of Sunil Gangopadhyay. Sadly,the great author passed away last year and the absence of a Kakababu story in this year's edition was glaring. Fortunately, Srijit Mukherjee's film was released this puja, ensuring that this year does not remain 'Kakababu'-free.
I am not a great fan of Srijit's work.His films were great but always lacked something. For example, 'Baishe Shrabon' had a great twist and excellent central performance but too simple a plot which disappointed me a lot. His films are filled with grand, sweeping camera shots; colourful characters and excellent music which effectively masked their shortcomings. So how does 'Mishawr Rawhoshyo' fare?
It is one of the most enjoyable films I have seen. Prosenjit Chatterjee is almost perfect as Raja Roychowdhury /Kakababu. Though he had a tough time expelling his characteristic drawl and attitude.
The result is a Kakababu who is more 'Prosenjit' than 'Kakababu'. Aryann Bhowmik made a good Shontu. Rajit Kapoor, Swastika Mukherjee, Neel Mukherjee( excellent as always) ,Barun Chanda, Rajesh Sharma, Tridha Choudhury, everyone played their roles with utmost sincerity. Indraneil Sengupta however gives the best performance of this film. He plays the complex, layered character of Hani Alkadi, a rebel ( a fantastic creation of Mr.Gangopadhyay) with great aplomb.
Not everything is perfect though. This film is full of experiments. Some are great ( The fighting scene in the hotel interspersed with original text from the story is a great touch which sadly was not repeated in the climactic fighting scene) .Some are odd( Split screens in an important scene in the first half which totally destroyed the moment). Srijit also uses odd camera angles( taking a page out of RGV's book,lets hope he never stoops down to that level) which fortunately cease post interval. I also did not understand the reason for a song about Delhi(which is actually a good song) and was more confused as to why there was no song about Egypt as the later is the more important place in the movie.The scene about the police chasing Hani Alkadi was also confusing and poorly executed.
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Kakababu and Shontu sharing a smile |
There are few songs (which is a very good thing for films like this) and they are usually good(Especially 'Kakababu's song')
Story-wise, it is a perfect adaptation. Srijit hardly deviates from the original plot(except for modernization of the characters-Kakababu tweeting was a great addition).He must be applauded for making a 'complete' film-complete with budding romance, humour, action, humane moments and the great thing is that none of these were forced into the film and came naturally.The great locale (Egypt looks beautiful) and the high budget surely helped though!
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Egypt looks great!!! |
People reading the review may be surprised to know that this movie is one of my favorites. Why so?
Because the negative points are too small to damage the film and most people would not even notice these points.They are the reasons why 'Mishawr Rawhoshyo' is not a classic, but an excellent film and a fitting tribute to one of India's best authors.Never have I been so much excited for the next film in the series, which will surely come.Go and watch it.It is great..
