Home And Sinha

Jayavrata Sinha (Ranveer Shorey), a  doctor in the Army, looking out for a sedentary, meditative , retired life, decides to join an Ashram in the  back of the beyond Lonpur, West Bengal. He rents a PG accommodation in Mrs. Henry’s (Shernaz Patel – fondly called Mrs. H by the locals) Khasha Blanca. However, to his chagrin, he finds himself not alone but in constant, annoying company of  a lazy, unemployed , disorderly man called Shekhar Home (Kay Kay Menon) who is also putting up  in Mrs. H’s PG. Home has a notorious reputation of not paying the rent regularly and ousting all other lodgers who have come to stay in Khasha Blanca earlier. 

More shock awaits Sinha when he finds out that Home kills time looking for the local rickshaw puller’s missing goat and playing rabaab at night. The latter is the cause of many sleepless nights for Sinha. Amidst all these daily tortures, he has to endure one more pain when he is compelled by Home to become his sidekick to assist the local police or to be more precise, Inspector Laha (Rudranil Ghosh), find a serial killer. Home utilizes Sinha’s professional knowledge to understand the killer’s modus operandi. He finally nabs the killer narrowly escaping from getting killed himself.

Soon Sinha realises that madcap Home is an egoistic and idyosincratic genius who is in the habit of helping out Inspector Laha and other locals without any monetary gain. He even gives all the credit of solving the crimes to Laha  preferring to remain in the background. Not the one to be so selfless, Sinha coaxes Home to open a Detective Agency in partnership with him  although Home insists that Sinha be nothing more than his Watsonian assistant. Mrs H , a Holmes fan, enthusiastically persuades the two in this exciting venture. Money is extracted from those who enlist their service  according to their respective means  and to Mrs. H’s delight soon the outstanding lodging charges are paid off.

As Home’s proficiency in detection spreads he is called beyond the borders of West Bengal to the interiors of Bihar wherein Sinha meets Bhombol, a secret service agent (Kaushik Sen), Home’s brother, who off and on elicits Home’s help to resolve sensitive issues. It is while nabbing a blackmailer who chooses to blackmail local politicians for their misdeeds, that they meet the beautiful enchantress Iravaty (Rasika Duggal). Soon an undefined bond is established between Iravaty and Home.

Home and Sinha’s adventures grow weirder and weirder when Home is taken by Iravaty to a remote village traumatized by series of murders committed by Skandhakaata (headless ghost). As the ghostly adventure comes to an end, in a dangerous twist of fate, Home is once again accosted by the mysterious M who has all along been tailing him. To Sinha’s utter amazement, Home turns out to be Snehashish, a brilliant professor of Forensic Science, in hiding as Shekhar Home – the only person who knows the location of a deadly vial of mass destruction. On a fateful day, M takes everyone in Khasha Blanca hostage and forces Home to locate the vial. It’s a do or die mission for which Sinha and Home have only five hours in hand.

Will Home be able to locate the chemical weapon which can turn an entire civilization into shambles? Will Home be able to outwit M in this dangerous game? Who is M by the way?

Back to crime thriller, Shekhar Home, Season 1, streaming on Jio cinema, with just five episodes, is mind bending to say the least. Though at first, seeing that it is a Srijit Mukherjee (SM) creation, I was apprehensive. SM is a well known Tollywood (Bengali Cinema) Director, who has many awards and accolades to his credit. He is a prolific movie maker, both in Hindi and Bengali. One of those you look up to.  I have marveled at many of his cinematic creations. The only problem is his scripts tend to tilt towards the morbid and moronic at times.

Hopefully Shekhar Home is in a different league altogether. The basic storyline is by Aniruddha Guha. The first three episodes have been directed by SM whereas the last two by Rohan Sippy. Yes, the serial is in Hindi.

Ranveer Shorey is at his best as the rookie assistant Sinha enjoying his miniscule moments of success in deduction all child like glee savouring his oneupmanship over Home. Rudranil Ghosh, as the blundering Inspector Laha, is a blast. I , until now,  remember Ghosh only in characters with pronounced shades of black and grey. His underplayed over confidence and  hurt self pride is class, especially, when Home teases him about his mislaid suspicions and Sinha instructs him  the course of action during an investigation. And what can I say of the veteran Kay Kay Menon? I have always respected his art and craft. He merges with every character he plays with such abandon. See him change his body language from an obscure detective to a renowned Professor of Forensic Science and master of deduction to believe.

Like all other crime series Shekhar Home ends on  a cliffhanger. We know M succeeds in betraying the law once again and absconds. But Snehashish alias Home? Is he really dead? Bhombol is heartbroken. He is angry at his brother’s obstinacy and wilfulness. But Iravaty has her own gnawing doubts and perhaps an inch of hope?

Don’t miss Shekhar Home, Season 1, on Jio.

PS: Why was I , a confirmed crime thriller addict, not able to figure out who M was which I should have as usual before the terrific fifth episode? Is it because I strayed away  from crime and suspense and got lost in romcoms ?

Point of introspection… Isn’t it?

Pics from Google