Dawshom Awbotaar

"Dawshom Avatar," the much-anticipated prequel to the blockbuster "Baishe Srabon" from 2011, falls disappointingly short of the expectations set by its predecessor. Srijit Mukherjee, the acclaimed director of both films, seems to have missed the mark this time. Let's dive deeper into what went wrong.

The film begins with Prasenjit Chakroborty's (Probir) first appearance on the screen, which unfortunately feels underwhelming. His portrayal seems cheap and cringe-worthy, his running appears awkward, and his overall demeanor comes off as aged. Anirban Bhattacharya (Bijoy Poddar) is depicted as a comic character, a stark departure from the complex character he portrayed in "Vinci Da." These portrayals certainly don't do justice to the characters Srijit Mukherjee built in his previous work.

One of the major drawbacks of "Dawshom Avatar" lies in its dialogue delivery. The dialogues come across as cheap, cringe, and recycled from previous movies, which is disappointing for a film of this caliber. Additionally, the plot appears weak and poorly constructed, almost as if it was hastily written. The audience deserves better than what feels like a script generated by an AI chatbot, like ChatGPT.

However, it's not all doom and gloom. Jishu, who plays Bissorup, shines with his excellent acting. His performance stands out amidst the sea of mediocrity. Jaya Ahsan (Maitrayee) delivers an average performance but struggles to elevate the material she's given. Prasenjit, despite his best efforts, and Anirban, are both limited by the subpar script and mediocre dialogues.

The film's attempt to incorporate elements of Sanatan Mythology and dispel common misconceptions is noteworthy, but it seems the audience struggled to grasp most of it. Additionally, subtle references to "Baishe Srabon" are scattered throughout, but they fail to provide a coherent link between the two films.

What disappoints most is the weak storyline riddled with plot holes, the comical portrayal of the once imperious police officer, Bijoy Poddar, and the unnecessary references to previous films. The side characters from "Baishe Srabon" (2011) appear aged and overweight, making their efforts to reprise their roles less convincing.

In the end, "Dawshom Avatar" leaves us with a line from "Baishe Srabon" that seems fitting - it is, indeed, "Kacha hathe lekha, baje bangla thriller er script." This film falls short of the standards set by its predecessor, leaving fans of the franchise wanting more and wondering what could have been.

The shared universe is a gimmick. This film can't be a prequel because it creates major loopholes for the other films in the franchise. If you consider that this Probir and Poddar aren't the same Probir and Poddar we have seen before and that this is an alternate take on their characters happening in some other timeline, then it's fine. Coming to the story, Srijit has mastered how to ruin a well-going thriller. A twist everyone saw a mile away coming, but major plotholes there too. Injustice done to Jisshu's character, whose character could've been one of the memorable villains or anti-heroes, is watered down to a forgettable generic villain or psychopath. Performance-wise, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Anirban were excellent and the only redeeming factors in this movie. The camaraderie is presented well. Jaya wasn't in her best form. Jisshu did fine with whatever was given to him. Cinematography and BGM are fine, but too much use of slow motion gets on the nerves. And the CGI at the end is laughable. Shout out to the editor for that crazy cut during the car chase scene, but again, overuse of slo-mo kind of ruined the whole scene.

Let us be honest, "Baishe Srabon" was an iconic film. It was nothing short of a landmark in Bengali cinema that changed the industry's ideology forever.

It was too big of a task to replicate the success and the impact (both literally and figuratively), let alone surpass, even for the writer-director himself. I don't think anybody counted on that, although admittedly, we kept our fingers crossed and hoped for the best, including me, a fan of 2011's original.

Everything was going well for the first two acts. I was delighting in the friendly banters between the Probir-Poddar pair and their sparkling chemistry. I was also intrigued by the investigative parts of the murders that were taking place in succession. I was hooked on the ride.

Then, the third act happened, and everything went awry; it seemed like Srijit Mukherji was in a hurry and rushed up to the conclusion, resulting in a climax which raised more queries than gave us clear-cut answers.

The story needed, or rather demanded, a suitable finale, which Mr Mukherji failed to provide, therefore leaving a sore taste that may linger for days to come!

Film Review: Dawshom Awbotaar ( Bengali Film ) screening in cinemas .. a pujo treat for my bong friends!!

Directed by Srijit Mukherji,Dawshom Awbotaar is a prequel to other films in his cop universe - Baishe Srobon, Vinci Da and Dwitiyo Purush.

It traces the beginnings of the two tough cops - Bijoy Poddar ( Anirban Bhattacharya) and Probir Roy Chowdhury ( Prosonjit) who are forced to work with each other on a complicated case where a serial killer is targeting victims based on the 10 Avatars of Lord Vishnu, hence the name Dawshom Awbotaar.

The clueless cops take the help of Maitreyi ( Jaya Ahsan), a psychiatrist, in order to understand the psyche of the killer and bring him to book. Will they catch him or will the hunters themselves become the hunted this time?

Boasting of a stellar cast Jisshu Sengupta, Prosonjit, Anirban Bhattacharya and Jaya Ahsan, what more could you have asked for in a suspense thriller. All of them do full justice to their respective roles and have grt screen presence.

The banter between Probir & Poddar is funny and brings a smile on your face. Great chemistry indeed!! Jisshu as the serial killer has portrayed his part well and Jaya Ahsan is decent too. The twist in the end is nice too like all the other films in the franchise ( though u might be able to guess it a bit earlier )

On the flip side the film seems slow at times and the climax , though well shot, is a bit stretched. The run time of 2 hr 34 mins could have definitely been reduced by at least 15 to 20 mins to make it more crisp and peppy!!

Don't compare it with the earlier films and u will come out of the theatre a happier person!!

I would definitely love to see the Probir - Poddar Jodi in action again In the future too !!

Going with 3.5/5 for this one .. adios 🙂!!

#sanjuzzreviews #dawshomawbotaar #JishuSengupta #ProsenjitChatterjee #AnirbanBhattacharya #jayaahsan #SVF #hoichoi.

The main thing about Dawshom Awbotaar is the all around consciousness of Bengali audience regarding a Srijit Mukherjee film recently that its gonna be either mediocre or bad, there may be a handful of conformist Srijit fans who still believes in him to return to his prime.

Even Srijit is aware of his lost brilliance and his inconsistency, but still Dawsham Awbottar manages to milk the nostalgia and the cult following the film has for being a prequel to his two previous films with the iconic characters.

Srijit doesn't even try to pen a consistent crime thriller; it is a deliberate negligence in the script department i.e he is not even pretentious but downright casual. The film essentially belongs to buddy cop genre and an exercise in making the two leads as iconic as possible, which surprisingly works very well. The relentless razor sharp funny banters between the characters of Anirban and Prasenjit are possibly one of the better written dialogues from Mukherjee in recent years, the power dynamic, and the diversity in the characters all fit in to feed the audience with some cult characters in the near future if there is a sequel.

Jishu Sengupta as antagonist has a certain world weary persona which was surprisingly given very little screen time, as I said already the main focus has been the cop duos, the film would have worked much better if a more detailed character arc was given to him. Jishu tries to embody his character very well, but with the protagonists being so larger than life, the treatment is surprisingly subdued for the antagonist. Though I would say some of the murders are staged well, especially the mythological connections they have.

It's evident there were no budget contrivances for this film, as the color grading fits in many scenes .The stunts were sharply performed, except those exhausting slow motions. There is a car chase with some brilliantly crafted inside the car and outside the car sequences.

The unhealthy obsession of Srjit Mukherjee in forcing gimmicky hand held sequences in filming a quarrel is also present here, and if it's been just passable or tolerable in his other films, here it is down rightly nauseating and redundant. What is repeatedly forcing him to obsess over his inconsistent editing skills, its a mystery.

Rarely Srijit has written a good climax; in here he is trying to replicate "Baishe Shrabon" in various ways which seems so half baked, so much out of place that the film completely falls flat due to the inconsistency in the end.

The Jaya Ahsan subplot doesn't work; neither does her arc in the story but her performance and chemistry with Anirban try to bandage the obvious gaps she had in the character.

Its remarkable though how Prasenjit fits in the role of a foul mouthed police officer even though 12 years have passed since 'Baishe Shravan' , his performance certainly is a prime highlight among the few positive points the film has.

Anirban has much more to do, as his screen time in 'Vinci Da' was much shorter .Here he is one of the leads, he has utilised that chance and with the help of shared chemistry with Prasenjit has given a crackling performance worth remembering for.

At a certain point in the film, the serial killing aspect took a backseat and waited for the protagonists to culp with their personal mismatches, tragedies and soon after everything comes to a truce between them, the killing starts.

The director may have been obsessing over his characters a little too much than it should be which is an evident black spot in how a cop thriller is written. If there is another film from this franchise which eventually is bound to happen, this obsession may worsen the narrative, or literally butcher the franchise from its cult following too.

The introductory scenes of the lead cops were staged like a mass film; where there was no absolutely need for to do so. The headache inducing slow motion totally shifts the expectations of the people who loved the way they are introduced in the first films they appear. It seems that Srijit was unsure of how to introduce his characters, so based on the recent obsession of audience regarding mass films, he chose to do this.

In the first ten minutes of the film, it makes you weary of those forced slow motions; some of them may also perceive a wrong idea of how this film turns out in the long run.

The film is certainly an an entertaining one, much more than his work on the web platforms. I wouldn't mind seeing more films made on the characters, as he focuses more on the buddy cop aspect rather than the central mystery,its entertaining and disappointing at the same time. But when it comes to a Srijit Mukherjee films,we are accustomed to being disappointed since last few years but it is since a long time,he has made an entertaining one so credit where its due.

I would say, during these glorious festivities Srijit Mukherjee's Dawshom Awbotaar is not totally a waste of two and a half hours, atleast from the heat and sweat of the pandel hopping crowd outside, it's a decent time spent inside.