Bob Biswas —a Manipulative Cult thriller
Ever since the film was announced I was eager to see how Sujoy Ghosh pulled off the character from “ Kahaani’. Well now the answer is here, Sujoy Ghosh’s daughter Diya Annapurna Ghosh made an excellent attempt to create a solo film with Abhishek Bachchan in the titular role.
Quick recap from 2012 ‘Kahaani’ — Bob Biswas was the character who pushes and pulls back a pregnant Vidya Bagchi, in front of an incoming metro train? How could you forget such a gruesome scene?
Anyway, talking about the film, it has a solid script as expected from Sujoy Ghosh. Bengali films are famed for their slow-paced thrillers, and this is no exception. It takes some time to construct the world and develop the characters, it’s a terrifying film with a satisfying conclusion. The only complaint I have is that the villain is so weak. Compared to Saswata Chatterjee from ‘Kahaani’, Abhishek really nailed the essence of the character. While Saswata was more of a psychopath, Abhishek is depicted repeating life after a coma and has no memory of his past life. This is okay as the director has to connect this with “kahaani” The ending was so satisfying “ Abhishek gets a call to assassin Vidaya from “kahaani” pretty sick build up right?
There are many cool moments in the film like: chow min maker who knows Kung Fu ( fan of bruce lee) mysterious Kali Da who lives by his own rules (loved kali da, deserved his own spin-off).
To conclude, Bob Biswas might be weaker than Kahaani in terms of plot, but it keeps up well and has a lot of positives. Annapurna Gosh’s first film as a filmmaker (she previously worked as an assistant director in Badla) is highly promising. She left room for everyone to shine. I haven’t been swayed by supporting characters this much. Bob Biswas, as a whole, is perhaps one of the few fictional characters from Bollywood films who have achieved cult status.
Author: Hawrry Bhattarai
