TOLLY FOLLY SEASON 2 EPISODE 3: HAR HAR BYOMKESH & OTHER BENGALI ADAPTATIONS

[00:00:00] Welcome everyone to Season 2 Episode 3 of Tawley Folly where we are looking at Boomkesh Bokshi

[00:00:20] adaptations and I am so glad to be here this morning with my co-host Sujoy.

[00:00:24] Hello.

[00:00:25] And I'm Rita.

[00:00:26] Hello.

[00:00:27] This has been a heck of a week and I just can't think of anything better than to sit

[00:00:31] with you for an hour and talk about detective movies.

[00:00:34] Yes.

[00:00:36] I've been looking forward to it all week.

[00:00:39] I cannot wait.

[00:00:40] Yeah, Amrita has been texting guys this movie is funny.

[00:00:44] Is it just me?

[00:00:45] Is it funny?

[00:00:46] It is so funny.

[00:00:47] And she watches another Boomkesh movie and like this is also funny but not as funny

[00:00:51] as now.

[00:00:52] There's going to be some very divergent opinions I think in this episode which is a fun

[00:00:56] way to end after we all loved Detective Boomkesh Bokshi and we're kind of like,

[00:01:01] okay about Cheri Akana.

[00:01:02] So this will be great.

[00:01:04] This is the season closing episode and we decided on one movie and then we decided to

[00:01:10] diverge and consume as much content as possible.

[00:01:13] So this is going to be all over the place because I think all those stories have merged

[00:01:19] in my head.

[00:01:20] I don't know what I'm watching especially because the cast gets repeated in different

[00:01:25] movies so I'm like, who is this again?

[00:01:29] Let's start with our main feature which is Hur Hur Boomkesh and Amrita is going to give

[00:01:34] us the summary.

[00:01:36] Before we start I just wanted to sort of touch upon something that Sujoy and Beth were saying

[00:01:41] which is that the three episodes this season were set up to cater to different periods

[00:01:45] of Boomkesh adaptations.

[00:01:47] So you have Cheri Akana with Utam Kumar which is the first big cinematic adaptation

[00:01:53] and then you have Detective Boomkesh Bokshi which we did in the last episode which

[00:01:57] was the big Hindi cinema adaptation and we also have the Rajat Kapoor TV series which

[00:02:03] was for a long time the only Hindi and TV adaptation.

[00:02:08] And so in this one we are discussing contemporary Bengali adaptations of Boomkesh of which

[00:02:13] there are 11th gazillion starring pretty much the entire current Bengali film industry.

[00:02:23] Our main review today is Hur Hur Boomkesh in which our intrepid trio travel to the

[00:02:28] wilds of Benares which as everyone in the film is at great pains to inform you again

[00:02:34] and again and again is a very holy place and is also populated by all the evils in

[00:02:42] the world.

[00:02:43] So you have prostitution, you have lechers, rapists, abductors, the entire rainbow

[00:02:50] of misogyny and gendered violence can be found in Benares combined with the most outrageous

[00:02:58] UP accents you have ever heard.

[00:03:02] So Boomkesh is called upon to solve the murder of a rich local Raja is what they keep calling

[00:03:08] him and he spends a great deal of his time wandering about a Haveli and making love

[00:03:14] to Satyabati both of which are good things.

[00:03:17] Just in 2015 this movie stars Abhir Chakriji as Boomkesh, Sohini Sarkar as Satyabati and

[00:03:25] Ritvik Chakraborty as Ajit and we are going super-spoilery with this yes?

[00:03:31] Yes.

[00:03:32] Yeah.

[00:03:33] Because there's like no other way to discuss this film and also it came out in 2015.

[00:03:37] I want to start by actually talking about the setting because some of your comments

[00:03:42] on Sumertha as we were planning this week made me reconsider that I clearly had missed

[00:03:47] some things, you know, subtitling or just cultural knowledge or whatever.

[00:03:51] But to me I'm the one who picked this movie so you can blame me.

[00:03:55] I really liked this movie when I first saw it.

[00:03:57] It doesn't hold up quite as well for me but I picked it because I thought it was so

[00:04:00] pretty like the architecture is pretty, the costumes are pretty.

[00:04:03] Benares is beautiful, the river, the boats, the candles, like everything is beautiful.

[00:04:08] So clearly I wasn't paying attention in certain ways when I watched this initially.

[00:04:13] Tell me about the sort of cultural setting and all that was making you kind of convulsing

[00:04:17] giggles.

[00:04:18] So yes, it is very pretty but you know like in all these Boomkesh movies there's always

[00:04:23] an element especially in the Abhir Chakriji movies I find because I've seen the

[00:04:28] Jishu ones now and I've seen obviously the one with Uttam and Rajatpur.

[00:04:33] I think it's most blatant in the Abhir Chakriji movies in which they have these very explicit

[00:04:40] conversations about the history of the place that they're going to.

[00:04:45] There's always like a local tour guide sort of element to Boomkesh informing Ajit and

[00:04:52] Satyavati about like this new place that they're going to.

[00:04:56] The Battle of the Brains right?

[00:04:58] They just kind of like let's go to the pub quiz version of Boomkesh now and discuss the

[00:05:03] trivia about this place.

[00:05:05] Did you love that as they're arriving one of them says, I wish Tagore had been alive

[00:05:10] to see this or something like that?

[00:05:13] And then within the same sentence Satyavati says about some sweets that's very specific

[00:05:18] to Banaras and all the Pairas as well and all of that.

[00:05:22] Such a throw away.

[00:05:25] So first of all this movie starts hilariously.

[00:05:29] Like I started laughing right from the first scene because you see the movie opens with

[00:05:35] them on a train to Banaras and we later find out that it's their honeymoon and they're

[00:05:42] going to Banaras for their honeymoon which is a whole other like funny thing but they're

[00:05:49] on this train and they're playing cards and it's very charlotte in there you know because

[00:05:54] it's Satyavati and Ajit sort of like playing these cards in this very flirty way while Boomkesh

[00:06:02] is off to the side and then suddenly the loneliest bandit in UP burst into their cabin

[00:06:10] and ask like one tiny little pen knife and he's just like give me your band leavers

[00:06:16] give it to me right now and then gets beaten up by Boomkesh for his pains.

[00:06:20] Like I think the movie is trying to tell us something about Banaras and about UP at that

[00:06:25] time and from there on we set the tone for what UP is going to be like.

[00:06:30] Then what happens is you get to Banaras and there is a sort of Banaras Darshan scene

[00:06:37] where you know this man with the worst UP accent played by Harshaia who's like

[00:06:45] a friend of the Bakshi's and you know he's a police officer and he is sort of pointing

[00:06:50] out the sights as he's driving them to their guest house and he stops on the bridge.

[00:06:56] I feel like the cinematography is really poor in that the camera you know sometimes

[00:07:02] it's as if they just pointed the camera at various things and it doesn't really direct

[00:07:07] your gaze at anything in particular so for example on the bridge scene the Harshaia's

[00:07:14] character is Pandiji and he is pointing out something and he's like oh there's that famous

[00:07:20] something or the other of Banaras and the camera is just sort of vaguely looking over

[00:07:25] the water.

[00:07:26] I'm like what am I looking at?

[00:07:28] I don't understand what I'm looking at and I don't know if that was a subtitle thing

[00:07:31] or whether you know it in the movie actually just that was about all the effort it

[00:07:36] could bother to put in and I think like there's a lot of that about Banaras you know

[00:07:41] and then also like when Bombay's Satyabati are making out and they kick Ajit out from

[00:07:46] the guest house then he's like you can't even be here while we're making out so he just

[00:07:51] like is forced to wander through the city of Banaras.

[00:07:54] Being an Instagram influencer of the 30s taking his photograph and clicking pictures.

[00:08:01] Getting heat stroke.

[00:08:03] Why is he on their honeymoon?

[00:08:06] But it's also like really weird because they make such a song and dance about Banaras being

[00:08:14] so holy and like it's a pilgrimage and all of that and then like Satyabati and Bombay

[00:08:19] are basically screwing like rabbits the entire time as well.

[00:08:24] I'm like well that's not very pious like what the hell is happening in this movie

[00:08:30] and it's to a point where like Bombay is just like giving Ajit like psychic directions telling

[00:08:36] him to go away and leave him in Satyabati alone and I'm like bro you could have just left

[00:08:42] him back in Calcutta but no like you had to bring him along to Banaras.

[00:08:48] And so we get to see Banaras for the first time through Ajit's eyes and he is clearly

[00:08:56] very impressed by Banaras but what the camera is actually showing us is basically you know

[00:09:03] like prostitutes and men sort of leaching at them and then there's Ajit going like ah

[00:09:10] ha ha ha what a lovely song and I'm like that's a legit prostitute bro like what are you

[00:09:16] going acting as if like it's you know some sort of amazing holy ritual like it's not

[00:09:24] like it's like eating like cholera snacks or typhoid snacks or whatever it is that they're

[00:09:27] selling on the streets and I'm just like I don't understand anything in this movie

[00:09:32] but you're right like it is very pretty once we get into the Haveli like that's very pretty.

[00:09:37] What I found different from other Biyomkesh movie is the color palette it's just highly

[00:09:42] saturated very warm tones and like compared to like because all of these stories feature

[00:09:50] some sort of a murder and there's like all sorts of crime involved because of the genre

[00:09:55] that it belongs to there's always this inclination to be set with you know darker alleys and

[00:10:02] low exposures and and desaturated colors but it's completely different what the so

[00:10:08] this is directed by Arindam Seel and this was his first Biyomkesh movie prior to this

[00:10:15] obviously Anjan Dutta had done six movies and he was sort of taking on the battle

[00:10:20] and he completely gave it a makeover of sorts and visually it's completely different but

[00:10:26] then he goes back into that whole desaturated look for his other two movies that he did.

[00:10:31] Amrita what did you call it when we were talking?

[00:10:34] I call it a slow motion soft focus hate crime perpetrated by Bengalis against you.

[00:10:41] There's also the other way around though that the UPI's are really very very

[00:10:48] pronouncedly anti Bengali.

[00:10:50] Yeah but they're like anti Bengali in a very like caricature you know it's like literally

[00:10:56] that one guy who's like sitting there like oh Bengalis you can't trust them Bengalis

[00:11:00] chief and Dhyomkesh is like I'm also Bengali.

[00:11:04] And you just ready to fight a guy again.

[00:11:10] I guess there must be a lot of tension between like the local UPI population and

[00:11:17] Bengalis because Sujoy like you know better than me.

[00:11:19] There's a long tradition of Bengalis going to Benaras right?

[00:11:24] Yeah I mean it's a pious place for all Hindus so I think I would say Benaras would be a

[00:11:29] place for like you know all the funeral rites like Ajit says in that land right

[00:11:35] that if you die in Benaras you go straight to heaven no other cycle of getting rebirth

[00:11:42] and all that reincarnation.

[00:11:44] So just the place I want to go in my honeymoon.

[00:11:47] Yeah exactly.

[00:11:49] Dhyomkesh says like yeah I'm thinking of dying here now.

[00:11:53] Like so romantic Dhyomkesh.

[00:11:56] Is this actual story set in Benaras?

[00:12:00] I think the story the story itself is like the text is set in Patna but I guess

[00:12:05] the location was way too tempting for them to push it to Benaras.

[00:12:11] To me this has direct visual ties to Joy Baba Feiludna.

[00:12:15] This is a this has I mean I would not be surprised if some of the exact locations

[00:12:19] are the same as the Filuda film set in Benaras and it has very similar sequences

[00:12:25] of one of the men walking through the you know the sort of tight stairways

[00:12:29] opening onto vistas surprisingly I'm kind of wondering if they were like

[00:12:34] well if I did it we'll do it too.

[00:12:35] Yeah.

[00:12:37] Let's talk about this Bomkesh.

[00:12:41] Sujoy tell us your thoughts.

[00:12:43] I have like I've seen pretty much all the Obeer movies of Bomkesh

[00:12:49] and I think I still can't get to like warm to him.

[00:12:53] There is some sort of I know some sort of a cockiness that I don't like

[00:12:58] about his portrayal and obviously in the later or in the Maseel movie

[00:13:03] which is I think Gankesh Gotro he pretty much becomes an action hero.

[00:13:08] There's like him and Ajit like you know beating up Goons and all that

[00:13:12] and I'm not a Bomkesh purist but but even to me like it just felt out of character

[00:13:19] and I think I don't like him as Bomkesh also

[00:13:23] but I like the Satyavati actress in this movie.

[00:13:27] Yeah, I do too.

[00:13:28] She is much better than how Bomkesh and Satyavati

[00:13:32] interact in the other Anjum Dutta movies but we'll get to talk about that.

[00:13:36] But yeah.

[00:13:37] Amrita, what did you think of Bomkesh?

[00:13:39] Yeah, I agree a great deal with what what's Joy is saying.

[00:13:44] I mean for me, I don't have that baggage like a cultural baggage of Bomkesh.

[00:13:48] So I don't really like you know the idea of like what is a traditional

[00:13:53] Bomkesh supposed to be like I don't know.

[00:13:55] But I do agree that he is not the action hero figure that we see in some of these movies.

[00:14:03] And also like since Joy brought up Bomkesh Gautro,

[00:14:09] that's where I began to really dislike the Abyr version of Bomkesh

[00:14:15] because in that movie he's just an ass.

[00:14:19] Like my God, what a friggin ass he is in that movie

[00:14:23] because there's again spoilers but this is you know the client in that particular

[00:14:32] movie is a philandra and the subtitles keep calling him like a philandra

[00:14:37] but he's basically a womanizer and he keeps saying things like you know women love me

[00:14:43] and that's why I keep having you know these sexual relations with them.

[00:14:47] And then but what he actually ends up doing is making a pass at Satyavati

[00:14:53] who is terrified of him.

[00:14:55] Like she is like really scared of him and the Satyavati character in this series of movies

[00:15:04] she's a very like ultra feminine, easily frightened, sort of timorous, slightly timid woman

[00:15:12] and she really is not equipped to handle somebody making that strong a come on

[00:15:19] and he's not even like hating on her, he's straight up stalking and threatening her

[00:15:24] and when she tells that to Bomkesh his answer is yeah but he's my client.

[00:15:30] Like what the hell is wrong with you?

[00:15:34] Even Ajit has like a better reaction to like Satyavati being that scared you know

[00:15:40] and then Bomkesh like tries to comfort her by using the same like lines of poetry

[00:15:49] that the creepy rapy dude used on her as if like he can make it better for her by like

[00:15:55] if he just says it in a more romantic husbandly voice and you're a freaking creep

[00:16:01] like I really hate you and that sort of destroyed my like his reputation in my eyes

[00:16:08] but taken before that like Abir is very easy on the eyes

[00:16:12] and I enjoy watching him generally speaking and he's just a very uncle-ish figure

[00:16:24] like in every adaptation except for the Sushant Singh version I think

[00:16:33] in which he's like something of a country bumpkin that he's not quite an uncle

[00:16:37] and but in like all the other adaptations but especially in the Abir

[00:16:41] adaptations he's very much an uncle and that's sort of off-putting as well.

[00:16:46] There's a scene in this particular movie where Pandey, Ajit, Satyavati and Bomkesh

[00:16:55] are walking along the guts and Pandey is explaining hey so okay Sujoy you saw this

[00:17:03] without subtitles right? No I watched it with subtitles

[00:17:09] okay well but you probably can like clear something up for me because in the

[00:17:14] subtitles they keep talking about how the Raja abducted his wife and forcibly married her

[00:17:20] yeah that bit is unclear to me what exactly happened because they seem to be quite

[00:17:25] in a very consensual relationship and yet the oblique opinion is to be like

[00:17:30] he went and just you know grabbed her and married her forcibly I'm not sure.

[00:17:37] Which doesn't doesn't track because they make a big deal about her being modern as well

[00:17:41] like educated rights forces hunts whatever she doesn't really seem like the abductable

[00:17:47] type for a movie and also like the doctor says like later on the movie he says that oh like

[00:17:53] you know or was it Bomkesh like one of the characters says something about like them

[00:17:58] getting married and again they say you know forcefully married and then a year of happiness

[00:18:05] and like what what do you mean a year of happiness and then they're like and then next what happens

[00:18:11] is a trial and I'm just like what are you talking about like what do you mean like either she

[00:18:15] was forcibly married or else like he just like I couldn't understand but um yeah anyway what was

[00:18:23] saying huh so there's a scene in which Pandey is explaining the state of affairs to the trio and

[00:18:30] he says he makes this joke about like you know um an old man marrying a young woman

[00:18:36] and poor Satyawati who's like this very sheltered innocent young woman is just like what and then

[00:18:44] Bomkesh has to explain the gross uncle joke to her and then she's just like

[00:18:49] and I'm just like oh my god that is every uncle and auntie that I have seen like I see that dynamic

[00:18:56] so clearly I'm just like ew let's talk about their relationship a little bit because I I really like

[00:19:04] her portrayal except and this is not the actor's fault that she's a little more childlike to me

[00:19:11] than the other Satyawatis we've met even when she's younger like in Detective Bomkesh Bashi

[00:19:17] um but there is something very sweet about aspects of their relationship and the actual

[00:19:21] you know depiction of their love life is pretty effective I thought like

[00:19:25] you believe the attraction between them yeah um so like we've seen in Detective Bomkesh Bokshi when

[00:19:32] Bomkesh is high he can sort of flash back and flash forward even and sort of have a clear

[00:19:38] clarity of his mind in his mind space he is able to picture things and you know join

[00:19:44] pieces together that kind of effect who happens here when he's making love to Satyawatis

[00:19:51] that's true yeah it's like the equivalent of the opium scene in last week's episode and the

[00:19:59] the switchboard where it's located the painting and he's also even

[00:20:03] even picturing um the the the malkin of the Haveli can I tell you like when that happens

[00:20:12] so for those of you who haven't seen the film there's a the scene that Sujoy is referencing

[00:20:17] they're in bed and these two they keep reciting Gita Govindam

[00:20:27] that's how they flirt with each other and they're like reciting the Gita Govind

[00:20:32] and in the original Sanskrit by the way and then like challenging each other to like

[00:20:39] you know translate it into Bengali and there's a scene where like they're in bed and they're making love

[00:20:48] and Satyawati in the middle of it starts reciting the poem and I'm like

[00:20:53] you know she's in bed with you and she still has the mental equity to like

[00:20:58] start reciting from Sanskrit I'm gonna say that she's not really concentrating like 100%

[00:21:05] unlike what's happening in there you're doing it wrong

[00:21:09] it's pretty rubbish sex is what I'm saying but uh this is what I mean like this movie is so funny to me

[00:21:16] because it's like you know like a nerdy virgin's idea of like what everything should be anyway um

[00:21:25] uh so they're in bed and she's like quoting Sanskrit in right in the middle of the act

[00:21:29] and suddenly Bumkesh gets his you know his lightning strike

[00:21:36] he suddenly like rears up and as as all the jigsaw puzzle pieces sort of fall into place

[00:21:44] and I fully expected him to leave that bed and go right away to the valley and I was really surprised

[00:21:53] when he actually like finished the act so this week I was just like what this is an

[00:22:00] this is an amount of grace that I did not expect from this character

[00:22:04] which tells you all that I feel about Bumkesh in this film it's a little bit more devotion to her

[00:22:09] than we have seen articulated in the other films right because the one she doesn't even exist

[00:22:15] you know we haven't gotten much of their relationship in the other films we've watched

[00:22:20] as a whole so far yeah what do you think Sujoi about their relationship I think

[00:22:25] Bumkesh wants to make Satyavati smarter by making her you know go through these mental exercises

[00:22:32] even even while making love to her and that's why he's like constantly inquiring what does this mean

[00:22:39] what did you learn from people in the middle of that but uh yeah I think this is the first

[00:22:44] time we've seen them kiss I guess yeah a husband and an educator two in one the ideal

[00:22:55] he'll take you to Banaras and like make love to you in front of the temple like what

[00:23:01] what is happening they're not depicted as particularly devout at other times are they

[00:23:06] no I don't think so that was another thing that like really stood out for me in this film

[00:23:11] because every like you know Pandey is a Hindu caricature he's like a UP Hindu caricature for like

[00:23:18] no reason because this movie is set in what 1932 right in the 1930s basically because Gandhi

[00:23:25] Ji is on one of his Siddhagas and everything and I think like 1940 maybe I don't know like if you

[00:23:32] were in the colonial police force and you were in a high position as Pandey is

[00:23:40] you would not be talking in that Hick accent like you would have an anglicized education at least

[00:23:50] and you would not be especially if you're the kind of person who gets invited to you know

[00:23:55] I'm not saying that he wouldn't be conservative at home like it makes sense to me that his wife is

[00:23:58] in Padda and everything but he would not be saying things like Confuge like he would know how to

[00:24:07] pronounce his S's you know and he's got like you know he's got the little Brahmin markers everywhere

[00:24:16] you know he's got the little tuft of hair at the back and then he's like talking in that very

[00:24:21] you know like parodyed UP acts and he looks like Shikari Shambhu

[00:24:29] so Shikari Shambhu is a caricature character from Tinkle comics back in the day

[00:24:37] yeah every time the camera would focus on his boots I would be like that reminds me of something

[00:24:44] but I can't paste my finger on it and then you said Shikari Shambhu and I was like oh my god yes

[00:24:49] that is exactly it he's also got the world's biggest portraits of Mount Batten and Edward VIII

[00:24:57] in his police station did you see those they're like these huge movie star style black and white

[00:25:03] portraits and I kept expecting those to be referenced in some way because they were gigantic

[00:25:10] and they were in this one scene quite predominantly and I that we just don't see them again but yeah

[00:25:16] for all the Anglo references he's not very uh he doesn't come across as very cosmopolitan

[00:25:22] what I did find different in this movie was that Bionkis switches from Hindi to Bengali

[00:25:28] and Bengali to Hindi quite effortlessly and throughout the movie because it's Banaras there is no

[00:25:35] like forced you know Bengali is not pushed down upon every all the characters everybody can speak

[00:25:41] Bengali on some level and that's why they are speaking in Bengali but also they also switch

[00:25:47] to Hindi because it's Banaras we need to also discuss Bionkis and Ajit in this version and

[00:25:55] this this Ajit is a little more again a little more childlike like he seems a little bit more

[00:26:00] in awe of Bhoomkesh he's also more chipper or something I this didn't quite work for me either

[00:26:05] he also just sort of dissolves into the background he's pretty much non-existent just like a bystander

[00:26:11] looking at how events are evolving and probably taking notes for his book he's very passive in

[00:26:16] this movie can also like Bhoomkesh has this habit of telling him to run along you know

[00:26:22] answer to it he keeps telling them to run along while he does other things

[00:26:27] surprisingly this was the biggest Bengali Bionkis hit of all that oh really yeah maybe it's the

[00:26:35] UP character assassination they brought

[00:26:44] I do want to talk about just briefly did anyone else enjoy the painting as being a big clue at

[00:26:49] the end because I really liked that and I remembered it that was kind of the one thing

[00:26:52] I remembered about this film from my from watching it a couple years ago but I

[00:26:57] you know I was fairly satisfied by the actual mystery in its resolution what I was not satisfied

[00:27:03] by was Bionkis is such a like he say keeps on saying I'm a fire seeker of the truth but

[00:27:10] there he does not care about the consequences or the body count he's just a bystander he

[00:27:16] doesn't really care about who dies and who lives through the end yeah because there are two deaths

[00:27:21] at the end of this that I did not expect at all and we're not necessarily possibly could have

[00:27:25] sort of prevented it it's like meh any other thoughts on this film before we talk about

[00:27:29] what else we watched I think like just leading into the rest of the films that we've watched

[00:27:35] I think what I have noticed of the a beer Bhoomkesh movies is that a lot of those

[00:27:43] stories seem to be centered on punishing women at the end you know like you have all this build up

[00:27:50] and you have like all these different characters and women barely get like you know they get maybe

[00:27:58] like a quarter of the time that the male characters get but at the end it always seems to be the

[00:28:03] women who seem to be at a loss in one way or the other especially at the end of this film

[00:28:11] you know like Beth was saying the resolution was entirely unnecessary and I was really pissed off

[00:28:17] at the end because I did not see that coming I did not think that was necessary and it was just

[00:28:24] cruel and just unnecessary she was just treated so disposably you know after setting her up to

[00:28:32] be such a crucial character and Bhoomkesh just easily shrugged her off it was yeah annoying

[00:28:38] yeah you're right there is no remorse there for for the lives that are lost

[00:28:43] and Bhoomkesh sets her up yeah exactly he sets her up right

[00:28:48] all right Amit tell us about the other things that you've watched this week in Bhoomkesh land

[00:28:55] so after this I saw the uh the sequel of sorts although it came I think there's a

[00:29:01] movie in between as well the Bhoomkesh parbo one that I think you and I saw together which

[00:29:06] has that terrible mujra that was choreographed by Saroj Khan if anybody out there wants to see it

[00:29:15] like honestly just go see the mujra itself even if you don't see the movie because it is a crime

[00:29:21] against dancing like it is a singularly the worst mujra that I have ever seen in my life

[00:29:28] um it's just horrible this week I saw uh Bhoomkesh Gautro which is like I said

[00:29:37] you know just ruined Bhoomkesh the Abir version for me forever and um this one is in Masuri yeah

[00:29:45] and as we find out Masuri is named after a plant called Masur and was settled by an English

[00:29:54] military officer who really fell in love with it and other various bits of trivia

[00:30:01] and also yes there was a sign up in the mall of Masuri where they said Indians and dogs are not

[00:30:07] allowed but Motilal Nengru as a fine patriot would break the law and pay the fine because that's

[00:30:14] how rich men protest um but after Bhoomkesh Gautro I saw the Jishu Anjandath production which is

[00:30:31] I think but it's just called Bhoomkesh Bakshi I think yeah 2015 yeah and this is what I mean like

[00:30:40] it's called Bhoomkesh Bakshi and anyway just like wait what which one like what I don't even know

[00:30:46] where the Kalidas thing comes from like yes like it's the references to that in the film but

[00:30:51] is it like a subtitle I didn't I didn't even see the subtitle so I don't even know why that's

[00:30:56] it's called that like uh yeah anyway I like the way they use Ajit in that film because he's the

[00:31:05] narrator and he sets up the scene and he recounts what they were doing there and sort of gives you

[00:31:11] like a behind the scenes look at what was happening and I thought that was really effective and it

[00:31:17] also gave Ajit something to do yeah and also just Shashrotha Chatterjee is just brilliant

[00:31:24] he's just the way like I think Jishu and Shashrotha's you know Bhoomkesh Ajit chemistry

[00:31:33] just works for me they sort of bounce off each other and they're discussing and also they have a

[00:31:40] banter that is going on between them and Ajit is sort of pulling his leg sometimes

[00:31:46] yeah I really enjoyed that in Jishu and Shashrotha movies and also like unlike the

[00:31:53] Abir ones like there's nothing weird about the relationship between Satyoti and Ajit

[00:31:59] in the Jishu version you know like the only thing I didn't like is that Satyoti is a very

[00:32:05] middle-class housewife sort of a thing and you know she literally has nothing to do except like

[00:32:11] be in the background she's busy like with her domestic stuff and raising her son yeah I don't

[00:32:17] I don't really know if that works because uh like you really do need to see the relationship

[00:32:24] you know for Satyoti to have something to do with the with a story at large

[00:32:30] she needs to be something more than that so I don't know how having that child thing really works out

[00:32:35] for them yeah but like it seemed like a more normal relationship even though Ajit even in

[00:32:41] this version lives with them full time yeah right right in what so Joy what did you watch

[00:32:49] so I watched the Hoi Choy web series on Byomkesh which has like four seasons and I think it's a

[00:32:56] shorter one but five seasons actually but each season is like one two or three episodes each

[00:33:02] and each episode like 15 minutes and they sort of cover like one story altogether in each season

[00:33:09] and I think that it's really well done if you enjoy Byomkesh I think you guys will

[00:33:15] really appreciate the quality of these these are really well done I think these are

[00:33:20] theater based actors who are playing I think Anirban Bhattacharya is playing Byomkesh and Shubh

[00:33:26] Rathodatta is playing Ajit Kumar Vanaji in these stories and I watched I think two seasons the

[00:33:33] first season was on Saktanveshi the way introduction story with Anukul Gauha and the

[00:33:38] cocaine whatever we already discussed in Byomkesh Bakshi but it also the story it just covers

[00:33:45] that whole Anukul Gauha story in like 10 minutes it's really wrapped and then they just go to the

[00:33:50] first grand case of Byomkesh which is one of my favorite stories the Pothir Katha Katha which

[00:33:57] is on the the gramophone pin murders mystery I don't know if you guys have no about this story

[00:34:04] but it's basically somebody advertises on the newspaper like it's a running joke that

[00:34:11] Byomkesh looks for case through the classifieds and if he finds something uncanny about ads he would

[00:34:18] try to act upon it when he's when he does not have clients knocking on his door basically and he

[00:34:23] finds a door an ad about somebody advertising saying if you want your the thorn in your life

[00:34:31] removed come to this location and stand by this pole etc and then he finds out somebody

[00:34:37] one of his clients actually surviving through an attack when somebody hit a gramophone pin

[00:34:45] through their chest but because he had a watch in his chest pocket he survived that attack

[00:34:52] and then the mystery begins about who is this mystery killer and how this killing was executed

[00:34:59] so it's it's quite an exciting story and Rajat Kapoor's tip tv series also did that I

[00:35:06] think those are the only two adaptations that I've seen of this story and it's pretty really

[00:35:13] really well done it's very concise the editing is sharp and the Ajit and Byomkesh chemistry also

[00:35:21] really work how big is a gramophone pin I'm clearly not picturing the right thing

[00:35:28] I don't know less than an inch maybe yeah they're really short how does that gonna kill

[00:35:32] somebody because it's just projected at a very high speed okay oh they shoot them with a

[00:35:41] gramophone pin oh I was I was imagining a stabbing right that's gonna it might hurt but it's

[00:35:47] like it's gonna kill you yeah it's a fun idea yeah but yeah I if you can get access to Hoi Chui

[00:35:55] it's a ott platform I would recommend and if you like Byomkesh then I think it's better

[00:36:02] than most Byomkesh adaptations that we've seen how many seasons are the five seasons of two or three

[00:36:09] episodes each and each episode is like an hour long like they covered the Ogdiban storyline in one

[00:36:16] season which is just two episodes and it's quite really well done yeah Sujoy and I also both watched

[00:36:24] the standalone Ritu Parno Gosh adaptation starring Sujoy Gosh as Byomkesh I loved it

[00:36:32] you didn't I absolutely hated it it's so unbearable

[00:36:39] tell me why it just felt like a snooze fest everybody is talking slowly

[00:36:46] you know it's just like when I went to university one of my professors would talk about operational

[00:36:55] science and you know supply chain and all of that and they would talk about how all these

[00:36:59] major industrial cities have a certain pace but when you go to Bath the Bath city in in the UK

[00:37:08] because the the age range the average age is 50 plus in Bath the pace of the city is really slow

[00:37:16] so everybody just takes their own time that was how I felt watching Ritu Parno Gosh's Satya

[00:37:23] and Veshiy because like the Taghurs the Zamindars have all the time in their lives

[00:37:29] and yeah it's utterly boring this movie it's based on Chorabali story the quicksand mystery

[00:37:40] it's one of the famous stories but it can be just done within an hour and they made a two-hour

[00:37:47] long movie like aesthetically it's really pleasing but it's so slow there's a lot of interesting

[00:37:55] choices made in that one I think sort of you know directorily and Suju Gosh doesn't talk through a big

[00:38:03] chunk like the what the sort of center third and Ajit does a lot more talking and I somehow that

[00:38:10] really worked for me I thought their relationship seemed much more equal which is interesting

[00:38:14] to me yeah yeah yeah I thought it was absolutely beautiful and you were talking about the

[00:38:19] saturated colors and in the earlier film that we talked about and in this one it's got very

[00:38:23] rich colors but the lighting is filtered or it's candlelight or whatever and it's just really really

[00:38:28] beautiful I think they made a casting mistake with the Raja I don't think Injunil Singhukta is

[00:38:34] I've never thought he's all that good in the Bengali films I've seen so I think they could

[00:38:38] have cast him better but I don't know I just thought it was and the music is really interesting

[00:38:44] it's a little more symphonic but also kind of modern which I thought was quite cool

[00:38:49] so I would recommend it but you would tell people to stay the heck away

[00:38:53] yeah I would did you watch anything else that you want to talk about

[00:38:59] no I think I watched Kohen Kobi Khalidas at the beginning of like when we decided that we will

[00:39:05] be having this podcast I watched pretty much everything that I could get my answer but

[00:39:12] you know by now is just all merged in my head like all the murder mysteries all the culprits

[00:39:17] all the characters are like yeah everywhere you know and what's Masuri what's Banaras it's all merged

[00:39:24] let's do some rankings because now that we've consumed everything that we can get our hands on

[00:39:29] let's talk about favorites um you two have already kind of suggested that Jishu is your favorite

[00:39:36] right like off the Bengalis yes off the Bengalis yeah yeah yeah of the Bengalis and I will

[00:39:41] agree I feel like he somehow brings I'm sure this isn't quite deliberately done but it seems

[00:39:46] like he's got kind of the best aspects of all the others that I've seen so he's not too serious but

[00:39:51] he's not too glib and there are sparks in his relationships with other people but it's not

[00:39:56] too much um and he's also not too staid I felt like Abir was a little bit not it's not wooden but

[00:40:03] just kind of so chill that I wasn't getting much off of him but I don't think Jishu has that

[00:40:09] issue and it doesn't seem like he also goes full action hero either which is yeah which is nice

[00:40:13] and also it helps that he's paired with Saswata Chatterjee who is by far the best Ajit right yeah

[00:40:20] I think that's the major advantage of the Jishu movies yeah I mean Abir has also done uh with

[00:40:26] Sashota but I don't know again like the the pairing of those two really work um yeah and also like

[00:40:34] I think the Onjun Dotto movies by themselves I think the music by Neil Dotto the the whole

[00:40:40] Bhoomkesh theme when the star titles happen I think that's my favorite what really struck me

[00:40:47] about the Onjun Dotto movies is that they were proper movies instead of just being adaptations like

[00:40:54] the focus was not on the fact that it was an adaptation um they were obviously adaptations

[00:40:59] because they are sourced from the Bhoomkesh Bhakshi series of novels but he was just really trying

[00:41:04] to make a movie as opposed to an adaptation does that make sense yeah and also like because I think

[00:41:11] Onjun Dotto just went ahead and bought the rights and he had sort of some sort of a higher bigger

[00:41:17] picture in mind he sort of put elements in there to sort of make it like a franchise

[00:41:24] and like they he would sort of tease towards the end what's coming up next oh yeah but

[00:41:29] obviously there was a lot of drama once Obir had done three movies I think he was tired and sick of

[00:41:36] doing Bhoomkesh and he went off and he said I would not do any more movies with Onjun Dotto and then

[00:41:43] he went ahead with Jishu as the Bhoomkesh for the next three movies and then Obir suddenly

[00:41:49] came back and did another three movies with Arindam Seel which is weird and Onjun Dotto

[00:41:55] is an actor in one of those movies yeah yeah he's in Agniband he is in Bhoomkesh Ghotru as the

[00:42:02] Zamindarya so did they like part on bad terms like what happened yeah there was some sort of a

[00:42:07] gossip Arunjun Dotto gave a long ass interview about how he made Obir what he is because when

[00:42:14] he did the first Bhoomkesh Bhakshi he was just one movie old and then he just went ahead

[00:42:20] and like did some other movies so there was a bit of drama oh he has the rights but then if he has

[00:42:27] the rights and how is Arindam Seel making those movies I don't know how the Bengali movie industry

[00:42:31] works I mean you must not have all of them right we read that article about the man who does own

[00:42:36] the rights and he's it seems like he sells them off fairly individually yeah I suppose or licenses

[00:42:41] them I shouldn't say sells them off do we have a favorite Bhoomkesh story Sudor you were talking

[00:42:48] about liking the the gramophone needle story I think that that's probably my favorite

[00:42:54] story wise because I remember watching the Rajat Kapoor show and like it's it's still ingrained in

[00:43:01] my memory that that particular story because it felt very sinister the the murder mystery and how

[00:43:07] the murder was executed and all that but also just because of the unavailability because we can't

[00:43:15] watch it Ogni Band is such a where is my Ogni Band video source you know I might need to buy see if

[00:43:25] I can buy a DVD like that's how desperate it's not available yeah I try to look everywhere I can

[00:43:33] see the official trailer on YouTube and yeah the movie production company I'm left a comment on

[00:43:38] their YouTube where is it okay to pull please all right Amrit how about you did you have a

[00:43:44] favorite story as a as adapted I feel like the Benarist one actually had a lot of potential

[00:43:53] I mean it has the elements for like a deeper story you know like there's a lot to unpack

[00:44:00] the only thing is like this movie does such a piss poor job like it doesn't even attempt some

[00:44:07] of the things like it just sets things up and then it's just like okay bye let's do something

[00:44:13] some of the like supporting characters just felt like cosplaying to me yeah yeah right

[00:44:20] I think my favorite story is probably churro bali which is the core of the

[00:44:26] Ritu Parno version because it's got the this palace has a secret vibe to it yeah we've seen that

[00:44:33] over and over again but boo boo basically has that core to it and also I'm thinking of the two films

[00:44:38] where Obere plays a history professor who's basically indiana jones and goes out and solves

[00:44:43] very Bengali culturally related mysteries like there's a whole bunch of clues around

[00:44:48] Durga Pooja and stuff like that I really enjoy those I also know why it's your favorite because

[00:44:54] it's got an awkward picnic in it it has an awkward picnic for the ages and I love

[00:44:59] Bengali awkward picnics in movies they're really good at them and I love that one and I love that

[00:45:05] there's this line about boom kesh wants to play some game and they need to write stuff down and

[00:45:09] someone says I didn't bring a pen to a picnic and he's like how can you not bring a pen to a picnic

[00:45:17] what if you suddenly need to translate some Sanskrit in the picnic like uh you don't need

[00:45:22] to write that down you do that out loud thank you very much from memory best villain what do you think

[00:45:31] that we've seen so far oh has to be the one from bomb kesh uh like detective bomb kesh vakesh

[00:45:38] agree it's dr. gua yeah new does copy no doubt that to me is like one of the saddest things

[00:45:45] that we'll never get to see him come back in a debacle energy version like I I would have

[00:45:52] absolutely been their first day first show to see that movie just on the basis of nilish hubby's

[00:45:58] performance so good so good sujoy do you do you have a different one or is that your

[00:46:04] own too I think who you're pretty much unanimous on that yeah okay and let's go around again for

[00:46:10] our our favorite boom cash film adaptation that we've watched any any language any time period

[00:46:15] any anything sujoy detective yumkesh vakesh I mean isn't that obvious yeah exactly

[00:46:23] the real question would be if if there were to be a future in the adaptation of yumkesh bakshi

[00:46:30] in the absence of sushant Singh Rajput and maybe if divakar banerjee is not making it

[00:46:37] who do we want to to direct it oh I don't want anyone to make it other than divakar I think like

[00:46:44] divakar really got it yeah maybe um uh your namesake sujoy yeah I would vote for that too

[00:46:54] I think one of the things that we've identified maybe without even saying it out loud exactly is

[00:46:59] we want some kind of the energy of pulp yeah for sure in these adaptations and that for sure

[00:47:06] is something that detective boomkesh bakshi has that the others none of the others have

[00:47:10] some of them have it in little splashes but not the sustained energy that this film has so we need

[00:47:15] someone who's going to be willing to do it that way I agree 100 percent because it's really the

[00:47:21] story of an adventurous young man isn't it like they keep trying to turn him into an uncle and

[00:47:26] i'm like he's not an uncle he's you know he's a guy that's like living a life of adventure

[00:47:32] why wouldn't you show that and you can have a life of adventure at many different ages as many

[00:47:36] films have shown us so it doesn't have to be you know we don't have to keep retelling the story

[00:47:40] of his first case exactly but just inject the energy just keep keep the energy up because

[00:47:48] there's so much you can do a thing I'd like to discuss before we end is this has to be

[00:47:54] Bengali cinema's most repeated homegrown hero type yeah is boomkesh I'd love to talk about

[00:48:00] what we think that says about Bengali cinema culture and maybe how it contrasts with other

[00:48:05] Indian cinema cultures hmm so I think that's the part of Bengali culture that goes into this would be

[00:48:14] because it's so closely associated with Bengali literature of that era and that being adapted

[00:48:20] into cinema is the whole close knit relationship between the two is so integral and that's why

[00:48:27] we get glimpses of that so I was watching Jagga Jasu's the other day and the first like even the

[00:48:32] introduction and the fairy tale it being set in Bengal in the northeast the character singing

[00:48:38] and the whole idea of you know a child growing up with this mentor who is you know talking about

[00:48:47] adventures and finding treasures and scavenger hunting it's so Bengali literature and I don't

[00:48:53] see that happening anywhere else I am I because maybe I am not exposed to any other literature

[00:49:01] from other areas of India but to me that's integrally like inherently Bengali literature

[00:49:09] come to screen and boomkesh is part of that hmm I think Bengali also understands that it makes

[00:49:19] sense to adapt from literature you know like if you have somebody because I've heard Karan Johar

[00:49:25] say this about Hindi films right like where are the stories where are the stories and I'm like

[00:49:30] bitch open your eyes I mean you can just like adaptations make so much sense when you're in

[00:49:38] the film industry and what I like about Bengal is that I mean I watch a very specific kind of

[00:49:45] Bengali cinema so take my words with a pinch of salt and understand that I am not watching your

[00:49:52] usual commercial Bengali cinema as such why Amrita there's so much wealth in Dave movies

[00:50:04] I mean I already watched the Telugu originals I don't really need to see it in a Bengali

[00:50:08] accent all over again but I but again you know that's smart like they're just adapting things

[00:50:14] you know you adapt from books or you adapt from other movies like there you go I like the fact that

[00:50:23] Bengali cinema also is pretty egalitarian about the kinds of literature that it adapts you know

[00:50:30] like it'll do pulpy fiction as well as high literature which is something that a lot of other

[00:50:36] industries in my experience they tend to adapt more high literature because I think they have this

[00:50:42] idea that if you're adapting from literature then it needs to be capital L literature whereas

[00:50:48] Bengali cinema really understands that a story is a story and you can make it high or low as you like

[00:50:55] and I think that is equality that I admire very much and I think is very smart and

[00:51:03] I would be very sad if that aspect of Bengali filmmaking were to fade out

[00:51:09] I was thinking about stories in movies that are repeated a lot and all the ones I can name are Bengali

[00:51:17] so of course there's Devdas which I read I read today that there are 17 film versions of Devdas

[00:51:24] at this point and they are you know across the country which is amazing obviously there's

[00:51:29] also Paranita has been made a few times I think only Bengali in Hindi I could be wrong

[00:51:34] about that and then Saheb Bibi Ghulam has been remade and you know updated a couple of times as

[00:51:40] well but and those Bengali heroes are pretty different types than Boomkash and they're different from

[00:51:45] each other as well but I think there just must be something about what this figure as

[00:51:51] an idealized man represents and we talked about it a little bit in one of the other episodes

[00:51:56] about he's he's a father he's a husband he's smart but he's also physically adept in certain

[00:52:02] ways just that kind of packaging of traits is just a little bit different and I think that's really

[00:52:07] I think that's really interesting and I certainly like that we have a cerebral hero type that's

[00:52:12] that's really cool. Sujoy would you like to give us a little teaser for what we're thinking about

[00:52:18] on season three of Tali Fali someday? Either going full-on Feluda for season three discuss the

[00:52:25] Feluda movies or perhaps discussing the other detectives in Bengali cinema from Prasunjit in

[00:52:33] Kakababu or Shabor played by Shashodh Chathurji in the Shabor movies again directed by Arindam Seal.

[00:52:42] I forgot about those. Yeah there's plenty of stuff that we can discuss in season three of Tali

[00:52:48] Fali. So maybe listeners could leave us a comment if you have any strong preferences about what

[00:52:53] we do next but we'll do something because it's really really fun to talk about these movies together

[00:52:57] and any other closing thoughts before we go? If you can have access to Hoi Choy go watch the

[00:53:03] Vomkesh web series. It's really well done. It's surprising surprisingly well done. Excellent.

[00:53:08] If you have Amazon Prime you should watch the Sushant Singh Raj Poo's version with

[00:53:15] Debakar Banerjee directing it's called Detective Vomkesh Bakshi.

[00:53:19] I think you all knew that and you should watch it again if you haven't watched it in a while because

[00:53:24] it really holds up extremely well. Yes we could not recommend it more and I feel like it's a

[00:53:30] particular joy and privilege to talk about it with you too at this time because I really

[00:53:35] that was a huge loss and that film is magnificent. Absolutely. Yeah thank you everybody for

[00:53:41] listening co-hosts where can people find you Sujoy? I'm on Instagram and Twitter at 93k

[00:53:49] Amrita. You can find me on Twitter at Amrita IQ or on YouTube at Amrita by The Book and also

[00:53:57] Sujoy and I co-host with our friend Asim Burney and sometimes Beth a separate podcast called Handan

[00:54:06] a Bollywood podcast which is about the movies of the three Khans so you can take a trip down

[00:54:13] Nostalgia Lane with us. And I am Beth of Beth loves Bollywood.com slash Beth loves Bolly on

[00:54:22] Twitter and I want to take this opportunity to plug a project that's coming up really soon

[00:54:27] which is a book published by Bloomsbury on Bollywood horror movies it's called Bollywood

[00:54:34] Horrors Religion Violence and Cinematic Fears in India I have contributed a chapter

[00:54:40] and mega friend of ours from Twitter Aditi Sen is one of the editors of this project it is by

[00:54:46] Bloomsbury Academic but it is not a super academic East cinema studies jargon book it's super readable

[00:54:52] and we hope that people will take a look at it when it comes out in November. Oh excellent.

[00:54:57] I'm so excited and I will I hope to send copies as I'm able to people near and far

[00:55:03] thank you everybody for listening this has been Tali Fali season two on Boomkesh Bucksheat

[00:55:07] and we'll see you again soon.