Team Fashion Keeda is deeply saddened by the untimely demise of Sushant Singh Rajput. We're revisiting this old post reviewing one of the late actor's early works as a heartfelt tribute to the brilliance exhibited in his craft. Our heart goes out to his loved ones. We hope and pray the Sushant Singh Rajput is at peace wherever he is and we imagine him in his endearing smile knowing that he will live forever through his work and his fans. RIP.
So, the detective or satyanveshi (one who seeks the truth) — as Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay would have preferred it — returns to save the day with panache. This film Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, arrested my attention ever since the first teaser was released on October 20, 2014 with the tagline — Expect the unexpected. The first-look poster of Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, which was released on December 20, 2014 in Kolkata, was even more intriguing. It somehow brought to my mind the iconic cartoon character, Chacha Chaudhary, with the dhoti-clad, charming Sushant Singh Rajput leaping over Hawrah Bridge. And that was a very pleasant association as it brought back the nostalgic fond memories of not just one but two of my all-time favorite, intelligent characters — Detective Byomkesh Bakshy (i) and Chacha Chaudhary. The movie had me on that.
The build-up to Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, was also well orchestrated by the production team and it became one of the most anticipated movies of early 2015. The reviews are mostly mixed and the jury is still out, which is not uncommon for an experimental movie like this. Apart from the story-line, treatment and overall direction & production quality of the movie, period dramas like this one make for an interesting study of the costume department. Sure, it is not a costume drama (thankfully!), but an attempt to recreate the Kolkata (or Calcutta for those times) of the tumultuous 40s set against the backdrop of World War II and the struggle for India’s independence in a film like Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, certainly deserves a deeper understanding.
Sushant has made dhotis look cool again with his depiction of Detective Byomkesh Bakshy. Interestingly, while the attire of some of the characters like Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, Dr Guha, Mr Banerjee etc., suggested that it was winter time, some of other characters like Satyavati, Sukumar and Angoori Devi provided confusing suggestions. One wouldn’t be able to establish the weather conditions, going by the costumes alone. There are warm mufflers, monkey-caps, the sleeveless carrot-colored cardigan worn by Byomkesh babu almost through the entire movie, overcoats etc, and then there are monokinis, skirts with thigh-high slits, cotton kurtas, cotton and chiffon saris. A little more attention to detail here, would have served us better, I guess.
Most of the outfits worn by key characters like Byomkesh babu and Mr Banerjee are given an intentional worn-out look in Detective Byomkesh Bakshy. This is a good move, I believe. These are the characters that are supposedly representing the common people like the students and other not so affluent people. These people are out on the street, roughing it out most of the times. People like Gajanand Sikdar, Sukumar, Satyavati and Angoori Devi belong to the upper class and the crisp feel to their clothes, suits the story just fine.
Sushant sports a neatly-parted, strongly-gelled, pulled back, slick hair look with a well-trimmed moustache. He also carries a very tight yet goofy, unique expression on his face. This sets the new-age Byomkesh far apart from his earlier counter-part, played by Rajat Kapoor. This look is very synonymous with the World War II dramas in the world cinema and is probably inspired by that only. It is also a subtle hint of how Indians had slowly but steadily adopted a peculiar European look by that time, with the hair styles, shoes and jackets etc. In one of the scenes Byomkesh also dons a three-piece suit and is shown to feel rather awkward while walking through the dimly-lit corridor in it. That sums up the stuck-in-between Indian youth of 1940s.
Read our take on the character defining haircuts of another period drama from that era : Peaky Blinders
The looks of the female characters are perhaps not that representative of their times. Satyavati carries almost the same look with her crisply pleated saris and low buns. But Angoori Devi, the interesting character which is badly played by Swastika, the famous and stylish actress sports a variety of looks in the film. Her hairstyles and clothes are very modern.
But what stands out in her look is her deeply painted lips which are slow pouting, smoking, uttering husky sentences in slow motion and are always probably inviting the protagonist. The color of the year marsala and interestingly rich plum were present with all their glory and varying hues, trying to make her the mysterious seductress that she was supposed to be. Interestingly, she also wears a lot of sequins in the film, specifically her very shiny sari in her final scenes. But at best, she just remains a wanna be in this film and never comes in her own skin, somehow always holding something back. This is a lost opportunity in this film.
These were few things that stood apart for me in this stylistically-shot period drama Detective Byomkesh Bakshy by Dibakar Banerjee, as long as the style of the main characters is concerned. The feature film certainly deserves to be consumed at so many other levels of film-making process apart from just fashion. Since this is not a forum to do a complete cinematic analysis, I’m going to leave it here.
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