Professor Shanku O El Dorado

Professor Shonku O El Dorado - Based on the original story "Nakur Babu O El Dorado" by Satyajit Ray that featured in Anandamela in 1980, this film doesn't waste any time and gets into the action quite hurriedly. The storyline is almost 4 decades old, but its backdrop is modern (2019, thus giving the adventure a feel of obsolescence, in spite of a glossy presentation. The science fiction that's forty years old fails to create the intended astonishment among the audience as over the last couple of decades, viewers have been exposed to humongous development of science and technology, and western films have created a deep impact already. Now with Netflix and Amazon Prime in our living rooms, Professor Shonku appears jaded, tired and grossly outdated. I am not so certain even if children will be thrilled with this presentation. Nevertheless, Dhritiman Chatterjee is sophisticated and suave, albeit lacking the energy to pull through the film for his own intrinsic value.

This was a tough one takes guts for a regional director to take the risk. Good acting clean direction with some flaws. Being a Shonku fan I am happy

The whole movie is just a joke. No character build up. Funny actings all over.

I want to start the review by appreciating Sandip Ray and team for venturing into the audacious task of bringing Professor Shanku from pages into the screen. The biggest challenge in filming Shanku is the necessity for advanced graphics and exotic location shoot. While camera work in the streets of Sao Paolo and bird's eye views of the amazon rain forest catches attention, the VFX team has done a mediocre job at best. Acting through out the film has been reasonably good from the Indian actors. Dhritiman as Professor Shanku seems unnecessarily annoyed at times but overall has portrayed the character well. Subhashis Chakraborty fits in the role of Nakur babu perfectly too. However, the foreign actors in the roles of Dr. Sauders and Krol are too expressive, even tiring at times. The use of music in the film is commendable, enhances the cinematic experience. Sandip Ray has not veered far off from the Satyajit Ray school of music, the tunes in the movie sometimes reminded me of the Feluda theme. However, the main issue with the movie to me is it fails to hold your attention. There is no build-up of suspense, no sequence for provoking thought in the audience; It's more like a grand Brazilian travelogue. I would like to see more audience engagements in the upcoming Shanku ventures.

Unbelievable poor script and story dampens the enthusiasm of a Shonku fan. The movie looks like a documentary and less of a movie. The adventure movie doesnt build up pace even midway and fails to keep the audience interested.