My fourth Byomkesh Bakshi movie released on Friday. It has been one long, tumultuous, desperate journey. The franchisee has put me to rigorous tests (emotional and financial), demanded the best from me. I made numerous enemies as well as great friends, had my moments of glory, underwent deep depression, and finally feel it has all been so worthwhile.

While working on Shesh Boley Kichu Nei in 2013, Jisshu Sengupta had expressed his desire to do a look test since Abir Chatterjee had left for Feluda and I was desperately searching for my new Byomkesh. I discreetly wangled out of it.

THE COOL BYOMKESH

By this time I had reread the stories and realised that I had not tapped certain intrinsic potential in the character. For instance, I had overlooked the sense of wit in Byomkesh, swiftness in his actions, that he is actually far more instinctive than deductive like Holmes. I needed a far more “cool” Byomkesh.

Till then Jisshu to me was still not this new “cool cat” I was searching for. He was still not that traditional dhoti-clad Bengali who is quick and sharp with his repartees, equally at ease with criminals as he is in helping his child with his homework. He is fast with his fist and a gun. Can get beaten up, can hit back. Vulnerable, yet can laugh at the face of a killer. Smiles a lot when he’s actually thinking. typical bangaliana? no waY It is a complete misnomer that Byomkesh Bakshi is a typical middle-class Bengali full of Bangaliana.  He is not any Bengali just because he wears a dhoti, and leads a domesticated middle-class life.

He is iconic because he slips out of that zone and confronts a dark, deprived society, built on a history of lies and exploitation by the nouveau rich bourgeoisie. He confronts dark twisted minds like Anukulor Bhujangadhar who challenge the social order or Probhat who kills from his sense of morality. Therefore Byomkesh has to be also equally shrewd and unpredictable, perhaps dark within.

Imagine a bachelor friend living in your house with your family. You have to be extremely liberated intellectually to enjoy that. Byomkesh is that progressive man who defies the concept of typical Bangaliana. Who does not give a damn to our conventional code of morality. This is why he catches Anukul (Upashanghar) but lets Probhat (Adim Ripu) go scot-free.

NOT ALL CHOCOLATE WITHIN

Finally when my producer and I decided to do a look test of Jisshu, I had already done more homework on him without his knowledge. Here is where my dear friend Saswata (Chatterjee), alias Ajit, helped me immensely. I had come to know of Jisshu’s struggling past, his bad days, seen some of the terrible commercial disasters he had acted in, the fabulous performances with Rituparno Ghosh… I had realised that this chocolate-faced hero is not all chocolate within. He carries a dual personality. A sweet guy on the surface who had undergone a very dark and tough time to become what he has. He does not give away his pain.

Like me, Jisshu has also seen the best and the worst. Jisshu too carries a difficult past inside him, which he hides behind his otherwise casual appearance. So, I knew that this “deceptive” quality would be hugely helpful and the look test was a formality. All I had to do was ask him to grow a stubble to take away much of the chocolate on his face.

When we had started script discussions I realised that he too has done his homework and was not at all interested in taking it up from where Abir Chatterjee had left (despite loving his performance) but more keen on borrowing from the sharp nonchalance of Uttam Kumar in Chiriakhana.

COMPLETE, TRUE BYOMKESH

Once on the floors, he was completely at ease, agile, deceptively shrewd and witty. My only instruction was that he had to rattle his lines sometimes. Jisshu Sengupta is not a fast talker. But I was adamant that in certain scenes he has to speak extremely fast, and in the others extremely laid-back. This will only heighten Byomkesh’s unpredictability. Jisshu took only two days to get this going like a bomb. Suddenly from the third day, in the blazing heat of May in Dhanbad, Jisshu transformed into that complete, true Byomkesh you’ll find in Saradindu if you read between the lines.

My cinematographer Indranil Mukherjee had also taken this opportunity to give the classic noir look, which he was not interested in before. We had decided to make this new Byomkesh story less verbose, more visual. You cannot take away strong dialogue scenes from Saradindu. So we decided to shift the talking to different locations. Instead of sitting and talking, what if they talk in a moving car?

THE JISSHU-SASWATA BOND

In the meanwhile, something else was happening on the sets. I realised the bond between Saswata and Jisshu in personal life was far greater than Saswata and Abir. So, without changing the very complex structure of my script of Kohen Kobi Kalidas, I made space for the two of them to decide on their own interactions. The result was stupendous.  Both Saswata and Jisshu started inventing interactions on their own during every rehearsal, be it with a cigarette or making tea or while following a suspect. I started joining their game by extending these interactions into my script and shots, even changing certain dialogues. Many of Byomkesh’s lines were given to Ajit and vice versa.

THE GAME

My secret instruction to the bunch of wonderful actors playing the suspects and killers was to lash out at Jisshu with their lines. My secret instruction to Jisshu was not to bother at all but kill them all with a casual repartee or a smile. This game continued and everyone got to know about it and enjoyed playing it on the sets.

When you have reliable actors who bond well, with a director who is crazy for adventure on the shoot, the entire script, shot-taking, lensing undergoes changes and the director’s and cinematographer’s instinct and command over the basic material and medium is put to test.

Fortunately, me and my cinematographer have seriously read our Saradindu and are in love with Alfred Hitchcock. So, despite not moving away totally from our earlier feel and mood, the look of our new endeavour became darker, more stylish.

I am not talking about pretty pictures, lavish production values or fancy locales. They have never interested me. But creating tension through images of faces…. By the time it underwent Arghyakamal’s (Mitra) cutting, we realised that the pace of this new Byomkesh Bakshi has become far more snappier, faster.

TALENTED AND HARDWORKING

Many had told me that Jisshu’s voice is too light for Byomkesh. But during dubbing he suddenly came up with certain warmth and grain, which was a huge surprise. By the time the film was over I realised afresh how talented and hardworking this chocolate-faced actor really is. Great actors have taught me that their efforts, no matter how huge they are, should not be seen on the screen. The actor should look effortless. Jisshu has managed to do exactly that.
The greatest strength of Byomkesh is his sense of judgement, which is far more grey and far higher than any average man. Ask yourself, why did Saradindubabu not label him as a detective but a truth-seeker? Any other gumshoe ends up solving a puzzle conspired by twisted, cunning folks of a dark society. Byomkesh ends up seeing beyond that. Ends up seeing the philosophical truth of this dark society. He does not work for money, because truth is far greater to him than money. That is precisely why he leads a humdrum life just to sustain himself. Never buys a car or jewellery for Satyabati, borrows his gun from inspector Barat or others…. But risks his life to see the truth behind the lies of our corrupt society.

Jisshu Sengupta has delivered this Byomkesh with so much ease and apparent nonchalance because I believe that the Mercedes he drives today is not at all a clue to his character. Rather, it is as deceptive as my Ray-Ban sunglasses.

Jisshu or Abir, who is the better Byomkesh?  Tell t2@abp.in