Chiriyakhana

Ray's second and last movie with Uttam Kumar. This is a story of Byomkesh Bakshi, which has been adapted at least 25 TV serials and films in different languages. Always a fan of detective novels, so I ignored the technical glitches in this. Also, the adaptation should be taught to the new directors who are making and remaking Byomkesh every year but afraid to change the story a little bit. Oh yes, this movie has many sexy actresses.

I watched this movie for the second time yesterday after a gap of about twenty years! The only difference is that now I have read all the original stories of Byomkesh. The movie as well as the characters are Satyajit's and not Saradindu's, which is a pity since I adore Saradindu's Byomkesh Bakshi. I guess this movie was made to cash on Uttam Kumar's star power at the box office. Although, I admire Uttam, unfortunately, I do not quite like him as Byomkesh. He is more of a star with his usual mannerisms in this movie...overall a good entertainer if you are not familiar with Saradindu's Byomkesh but otherwise, this is one of the weaker films of Ray as well as of Uttam Kumar.

Chiriyakhana is based on Sharadindu Bandopadhyay's famous detective novel of the same name. There was many a deviation from the novel just like the case in Ray's some other cinematic adaptations. The biggest one being, in the movie Byomkesh (the sleuth) is bachelor, his 'Watson' Ajit is married. During the movie events Byomkesh is shown to be living in a "mess bari". Ajit stays with him since his wife is out in Ghatsila. Secondly, the murders took place with a 'blunt instrument' (Ray's fascination with blunt instrument was also evident in some of his own detective stories with 'Feluda', namely 'Hatyapuri'). Also, in the movie Byomkesh is shown to wear disguise twice, none so was in the novel. Movie character Byomkesh has a pet baby python, keeps a human skeleton in his room and has no problem drinking scotch in the evening. Book character was fairly lazy to own a pet, too cerebral to actually study anatomy and in spite of being a habitual smoker, never drank. Not that I mind the cinematic deviations, but there should be a strong logic behind each. While I can understand the room being too drag without the skeleton and the snake -- I cannot get the point of Byomkesh being single. May be Ray's ideal sleuth was tall, cerebral and deliciously single as we see later in form of "Feluda".

Uttamkumar is just about average as Byomkesh. There are two weaknesses that would draw a lot of attention today. His mimic of a Japanese horticulturist is too over the top and secondly, his character was needlessly rough with the characters of the farm from very beginning.

Overall, this is one of Ray's average movies. It's surprising that this was awarded the best picture in 1967 in India and Uttam won the "Bharat" (India's then version of Oscar for best actor) award for his role.

The original story was rather weak. 1 > It was never clear from the novel why Nishanath was interested about Sunayana. Ray at least tried to explain why Nishanath suspected the existence of Sunayan n the colony. 2 > The end of the novel was too dramatic, not much practical.

One more thing, at initial investigation Byomkesh was a bit rough with the inmates of colony, might be he was emotionally involved as he could not save client's life. Pythons, skeletons, etc. are shown to make the film more cinematic.

Strength of the movie: - 1 > Performance of Uttam Kumar, characterization was excellent. 2 > Performance of all the actors. 3 > Logical deductions and psychological analysis thru photo gallery. 4 > The theme seemed to be much practical with respect to the original story.

Weakness: - 1 > the progress of the movie was slow initially and suddenly gears up. the pace was not uniform.Ending was rather abrupt. 2 > Although Uttam Kumar tried his best, the idea of having a Japanese horticulturist. It was a bit comedy there, but overall Byomkesh was very serious throughout the movie. These two do not match. 3 > When Byomkesh was arriving in Mohanpur, it was initially a local train( no separate engine), but in the next shot it was shown that a separate engine is there. Anyhow, as this stays just for a second on the screen, the error does not have much impact 4 > When Byomkesh throws the key inside the taxi, he was too close to Dr. das. Byomkesh could have been easily noticed by Dr.Das.

Overall it was very enjoyable.

In this film, we find Uttam Kumar in a special character. This type of character is an exception or his romantic film image. His performance is excellent, or superb. On the other hand , it may not be one of the greatest of Satyajit Ray, but certainly a very good entertaining one, especially for those who likes mystery. The new ideas of Ray,the treatments , the scenario, the dialogues are excellent. The way in which the detective analyses the situation, carries out his action plan and at last catches the criminal is rarely found in Bengali movies. Also credit goes to the handsome Bengali hero with the great personality. The film is a milestone of Uttam Kumar's film career as he won Bharat Award for this film(and also for the film "Antony Firingee"). Uttam Kumar is the first hero in India who won this award, as far as I know.