Ebar Shabor review.
Written by Abhikendu Deb Roy
Rating: 3.2/5
It appears that the season of detective films have predominantly taken over the season of winter, here in the Bengali film Industry. After Byomkesh and Feluda, Detective Shabor Dasgupta is working on a murder mystery somewhere entangled between money and love. Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay has been borrowed time and again by the likes of Rituparno Ghosh, Aparna Sen and several other renowned film makers. But none had the courage to excavate and unravel the realms of Shabor till a certain Arindam Sil decided to translate the pages of ‘Rwin’ on screen.
Arindam Sil is back with his second directorial venture, post-Aborto. While Aborto dealt with office politics and relationship issues, Ebar Shabor is a totally different ballgame. Sil, on one hand keeps the nerve-chilling suspense high and on the other hand, makes the pace of the film a tad bit slow somehow stooping down the level. Sil, along with co-screenwriter Padmanabha Dasgupta, has tried to deal with each suspect of the murder one by one, but could have been way more interesting if he had stirred up all the chapters of this whodunit and revealed the homicide at the climax. As the story progresses, the suspense drops steadily and the revelation doesn’t give you the kind of goosebumps you had been expecting.
Shabor Dasgupta aka Saswata Chatterjee is sheer brilliance in the film. However it must be added that his look and attitude might bring in some déjà vu for all those ‘Proloy’ viewers. Subhrajit Dutta as Shabor’s sidekick, the convict Swastika Mukherjee and the characters related to the murder viz. Ritwick Chakraborty, Payel Sarkar, Debolina Dutt, Rahul Banerjee are well above the bar. Prime Suspect Abir Chatterjee is having the time of his life. He proves yet again that he can get out of his comfort zone and play the role of a sleuth or a murder suspect. One person who must receive special mention is June Maliah, bringing upon two reflecting sides to her role.
A major portion of the film has been shot indoors. The detailing and virtuosity of the indoor shoots are reflected through the art director Nafisa Mondal’s works. The outdoor shoots have been kept simple, shot in prime locations like Gariahat and Esplanade to name a few. Cinematographer Sirsha Ray does a decent enough job for this homicidal thriller. Sujay Dutta Ray, in the edit table, kept the film as tight as possible with a running time of 2 hours 5 minutes, with almost every frame indispensable.
Another jewel of this film is its background score and music. Bickram Ghosh works wonders for this 2 hours 5 minutes film. The BGM keeps you intrigued and instigates your grey matter to start working with Shabor. There are two songs which come up post-interval are apt to the screenplay of the film. Adho Ghum, by Ujjaini Mukherjee, crops up right when the suspense is at its peak level while Nei Raat, by Saptak Bhattacharjee and Isheeta Chakravarty is a chase sequence backing song, just before the jigsaw puzzle is solved. Both the songs are a gift to the film, allowing the story to flow ahead.
One amazing thing about Ebar Shabor that’d keep a lasting impression on you even when you walk out of the plexes is the first 3-4 minutes of the film. To be precise, the opening credits are shown in such a startling manner that you expect one blockbuster of a thriller from Sil’s latest creation.
Final Verdict: This thriller keeps you at the edge of the seat making you think time and again. This thriller allows you to change your views of the characters every now and then. This thriller allows you to take a dig at the complex dealings of human relationships. But unfortunately, this thriller is lacking the desired amount of thrill, in spite of keeping you hooked to your couches for the initial part of the film.
