Review of Bengali film Badshahi Angti

Actor Bibhu Bhattacharya's unfortunate demise created a new challenge for director Sandip Ray to continue with his Feluda series without the inseparable character of Jatayu,but Sandip Ray took this challenge brilliantly and make a fresh start from the very first novel of Feluda sereis "Badshahi Angti" where the character of Jatayu is not there. With this initiative not only he get extra time to find a perfect actor for the character of Jatayu but also he got a chance to handover the baton to an young actors to play Feluda and his sidekick Topshe.

So while watching this you will get the nostalgic feeling of watching a Feluda movie but also you will get a fresh and contemporary approach too which will appeal to the current generation.

As the story is based on the first novel of the series so our very own sleuth Prodosh C Mitter(Abir Chatterjee) is not a professional detective yet rather he is working in a bank and working as detective is his hobby only. During a visit to Lucknow to an uncle's place he found himself involved in a mysterious case of a missing ring. The ring which was once worn by Aurangzeb and later goes to too many hands and finally goes missing from Feluda's uncles's house. There are a lot of interesting characters who are all in the suspect's list like Dr. Srivastava(Bharath Kaul) who was the last owner of the Ring, Mahavir (Tathagata Mukherjee) whose father has gifted the ring to doctor,the animal lover Banabihari Sarkar (Paran Bandopadhyay) or his aide Ganesh Guha(Rajatava Dutta). In his investigation Feluda is joined by his cousin Topshe (Sourav Das). and finally how they solved the mystery is the rest of the story.

Along with these characters, another important character of the film is the backdrop of Lucknow and Haridwar which has became alive with the perfect cinematography by Sirsha Ray. While watching the film you can feel you are watching a investigation of a missing ring and at the same time you are also watching a travelogue of Lucknow and Haridwar city. From Bada Imambara, Kaizar Bag , Bhulbhulaiya to the Ganges ghats of Haridwar every place has been captured with the eyes of a tourist and there is enough information also about those monuments as Feluda or Banabihari keeps playing perfect guide to Topshe from time to time. Even you will get a glance of Lucknow special kebab and other Nawabi food items too.

As a director Sandip Ray has played the masterstroke by choosing the story to relaunch the series with a fresh lead actor.His direction is good from choosing perfect actors to perfect locations. 

Abir Chatterjee has already made his mark as Byomkesh so far but he has played the character of Feluda with the same confidence and has created the character of his own. In fact Abir looks more suitable as Feluda in terms of his screen age in comparison to earlier Feluda played by Sabyasachi Chakraborty. We will definitely look forward to watch more Feluda movies with Abir Chatterjee playing the lead.
Unfortunately the same can not be said for the debutante actor Sourav Das  who has played Topshe for the first time. His looks matches with the screen age of his character but his acting is just average. Though it can be overlooked considering that he has act with the veterans in his very first film at this young age. Hope he will give more mature performance in the next movies of the series.

Among the others Paran Bandopadhyay is brilliant as animal lover Banabihari Sarkar, once again he has proved that he is the best character actor of Tollywood in recent times. The rest of the cast including Bharath Kaul, Biswajeet Chakraborty, Dipankar De has given appropriate support. Rajatava Dutta has very little to do as Ganesh Guha, in fact he has dialogues in only one scene. Probably he has done this role only as a gesture of friendship.

Among the technical team the person who deserves special mention is cinematographer Shirsha Ray. He has captured the scenic beauty of Lucknow and Haridwar very lavishly. The editing is good and keeps the pace correct for a n adventure thriller. The background music is obviously the main attraction of a Feluda movies without that signature theme music in background the Feluda nostalgia would have been incomplete.

Overall "Badshahi Angti" is a must watch for all Feluda fans, go and watch the new generation Feluda who still smokes cigarette but at the same time he also prefers to drink coffee at CCD. Even if you are not a die hard fan of Feluda still you can enjoy this adventure thriller with talented actors and beautiful locations of Lucknow and Haridwar.