Curious case of the missing detectives

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It has all the ingredients — suspense, thrill, entertainment — to keep a movie buff hooked for three hours, yet there have been extremely few films based on the genre. Detective films have strangely found no place in the Hindi film industry till now.

While in the West, the genre has always been a hot favourite, with popular characters like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot featuring in their films, Hindi cinema has never quite warmed up to popular detective characters like Feluda, Byomkesh Bakshi and Kakababu.
However, the genre seems to be getting its due now with two ambitious detective projects in the pipeline — filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee along with the Yashraj Films has announced a film that would explore the first case of detective Byomkesh Bakshi with actor Sushant Singh Rajput in the lead; and, Rajeev Khandelwal will be starring in director Kaushik Ghatak’s Samrat and Co. by Rajshri Productions that promises to be a serious investigative thriller.
Dibakar has fantasised about making detective films since the time he was 14. He says that the genre has never been explored here because in Hindi literature, and therefore in Hindi popular culture, the idea of an urban sleuth simply does not exist.
“What Hindi film viewers have been watching so far are mashed up, recycled imitations that combine James Bond with a Sherlock Holmes costume and mixing in usual commercial masala of action, street-smart romance and pulp magazine jasoosi capers. Several are announced, but very few invest in the true character, arc and placing of the detective in a real Indian setting,” he says, adding that Byomkesh was the first of his kind in India — a truly Indian detective who has enthralled his readers for over 60 years and has been translated into 13 languages. “This is the reason I think the Hindi audience deserves to see him in his full glory as portrayed in the original stories,” he remarks
Kaushik agrees with Dibakar. He too has grown up reading detective fiction — from international series like the Famous Five, Hardy Boys, Sherlock Holmes and books by Agatha Christie to the desi ones. He says in India the idea of a detective is very convoluted and thus even when we try our hand at a detective film, the character mostly turns out to be a caricature.
“In recent times, people think the only work detectives do is spy on a cheating husband or wife, find details about a prospective bride, or look for loopholes in a divorce case. The idea of detectives who investigate crime cases is lost, or wasn’t there ever,” he says and adds that with his film, he aims to bring the real detective to the fore. While his lead character Samrat isn’t inspired from any particular literary character, he is a serious detective who will probe real cases.
Rajeev, who plays the lead in Kaushik’s film, says that he has never really read an investigative thriller, but was bowled over by the director’s vision. Rajeev says one reason for filmmakers to stay away from making an investigative thriller could be the serious plot. “Such films won’t really have a song or dance number. It is basically a gripping plot that is required, with maybe engaging background score. The audience is still coming to terms with a film sans peppy numbers,” he says.
However, now that the genre is being explored, filmmakers believe it will do well. Piyush Jha, who too plans to make an investigative thriller based on his bestseller Mumbaistaan, says, “Producers shy away from them as they want to play safe and put their muscle behind the masala. But a good detective film done in a controlled budget can surely reap huge profit.”