Bohurupi Film Review: Gets the Basics Right

I bet you won't remember when you watched a proper Bengali commercial film which had a convincing story, taut screenplay, superb performances, great dialogues and item songs, for the last time. That's because Bengali films have distanced themselves from these commercial tropes long ago. This Shiboprosad Mukherjee-Nandita Roy directed Pujo release is that rare bird which manages to single handedly turn the tide in it's favor. Bohurupi stars Shiboprosad Mukherjee, Abir Chatterjee, Koushani Mukherjee and Ritabhari chakraborty in the lead roles, along with Bhaskar Banerjee, Manasi Sinha, Sujan Mukherjee in supporting roles.

 

Basic Plot- After being wrongly framed for murder by his own people, Bikram Pramanik vows to take revenge by becoming a serial bank dacoit.

Positives

Performances

All the actors in the film boast towering performances from the start till the end. Shiboprosad Mukherjee as the main villain plays his role generously. His character arc is heavily justified by the level of performance that he delivers; getting betrayed, jailed, vowing revenge, being a con artist, losing a hand, robbing banks, marrying his crime partner, Shiboprosad does everything so well. Abir Chatterjee as the honest police officer Sumanta Ghosal is a perfect casting. This is only his second collaboration with this director duo and he still manages to make a mark. Abir really justifies the dynamism in his character when managing his mentally unstable wife in between his duty. Ritabhari does well but it is Koushani Mukherjee who gives a shocker of a performance. She really lived the character of Jhimli and performed very well. Seems like her career has took of once again with this film.

Direction and Writing

Things have been hit out of the park in these aspects. The director duo manages to captivate the audience with a story which is rooted yet massy, so you get the bang for your buck and still find the film relatable. The overall world building has been pretty nice, and so has been the character designs. Each character is given proper space and has been utilized to the maximum. The entire robbery plot has been set up very nicely. Several legal loopholes from a dacoit point of view, the entire robbery recce and other minute details have been carefully explained to the audience in a minimalistic way which feel more engaging than irritating. Several scenes look well designed with some Hitchcock inspired cross cuts, which really captivate the audience. The highlight is the cat and mouse chase between the hero and the villain. The tussle between the hero and the villain is classically established with the villain having an upper hand in the form of an emotional connect with the audience, while the cop who's already having a tough time nabbing the culprit has an additional challenge in his personal life in the form of tackling his mentally unstable wife. Praise should also be given for the extremely metaphorical and 'true to context' climax. All of these things compile to make a gripping yet entertaining watch. 

Dialogues, Music and Camera work

The dialogues are enjoyable, with the core focus being towards the hero-villain communication through one liners. That really gives some good old Salim-Javed vibes. The comedy is uplifted due to the dialogues in most places throughout the film. The music is nice too; the romantic track is nice and the item song featuring Koushani Mukherjee is terrific. It's pretty nice to see the screenplay progressing even during the song, as it's something you won't see often. The camera work is nothing short of clap worthy with some nice shots throughout the film and some cheesy (not literally) slow-mows which really uplift the character presentation of the film.

Underwhelming Aspects

Editing (partial)

Although I've very less to complain about in this film, I feel like the editing could've been better for sure. It's quite nice although but some scenes throughout the film feel very abruptly put together. Sometimes you even get confused whether a particular scene moved the screenplay to the past, or is it the present itself that we are seeing. Also, the director duo seems to have been so much carried away a character created by their own selves, that they didn't hesitate to include fifteen banks under the jurisdiction of a single cop. Now fifteen bank robberies, that too each within four minutes is too big a deal even for the Dhoom franchise, but that's digestible considering the credibility of the film in other aspects. The jumping around with some random scenes aren't very convincing either but that doesn't take away the fact that Bohurupi is a proper commercial film to have been produced from the Bengali Film Industry after a very long time.

Conclusion

With several filmmakers trying to woo the audience with family drama and boring serial like stories, Bohurupi is a fresh take in the commercial zone which succeeds as it gets the basics right. A revenge drama story, presented from the villain's point of view, who makes such an emotional connect with the audience that the audience actually go silent when the villain is caught. This is coupled with the 'chor-police' angle where the villain even has an old personal equation with the police, that's intertwined with the present course of action in the film. These elements ensure a gripping, entertaining and family friendly watch, which Bohurupi certainly is. This is a slow burner of a film, which will surely pick up pace during the Pujo holidays, and may even be the audience's first choice after the Pujo holidays.

Watch Out For

An amazing and well researched post credit scene featuring the 'Real Bohurupi'.

WTF Recommendation

8/10