Rating – **** (4/5)
Where was this Rohan Sippy all this while? The man, who has created some underrated projects and a few overrated ones as well somehow saved the best for his most recent. Shekhar Home, a web show on JioCinema isn’t just a Rohan Sippy vehicle though. Director Srijit Mukherji (Begum Jaan, Jaanbaaz Hindustan Ke) also seemed to have finally understood the assignment when it came to the Hindi space. It also helps that this one is set mostly in Calcutta, Bengal – his home ground. It is not often that one begins raving about the directors and writers (Aniruddha Guha, Niharika Puri and Vaibhav Vishal) right away in the first paragraph but to create a detective drama that barely falters, hardly misses the plot and stupendously rounds things up is as rare as finding a needle in a haystack, especially in the Indian space. These people have managed to collaborate and create possibly one of the detective dramas in recent times.
The icing on top of this meticulously planned and executed story is sheer casting calls – you get the finest like Kay Kay Menon and Ranvir Shorey to lead the front, thus making sure there is no room for error. Menon hits it out of the park playing this eccentric yet humane genius, who you might keep anticipating will have some gap – some chink in his armour – and I won’t spoil it for you by telling, is there one or not.
Shorey adds just the right element of comic relief, where his chemistry with Menon is the hook you hold on to most of the time. Rasika Dugal lends good support and becomes the sole arc mostly setting up for a second season but it is Kirti Kulhari’s character, I was the most disappointed by. It isn’t that she doesn’t have a good character to play or sink her teeth into, which she does but it is never etched out enough and gets a conclusion that is expected and premature.
Another drawback that Shekhar Home partially struggles with is how the novelty of Menon’s Shekhar Home solving cases by making the minutest of observations loses its spark even if there is no problem with the reveals. This is recurrent in the first four episodes but courtesy of a dark past, the show gains lost momentum with an overarching theme and conflict that makes way for a scintillating fifth and sixth episode. This time, even if you know the outcome and know that Menon will crack it, it remains thrilling, engaging and even great fun.
Shekhar Home is undoubtedly one of the best detective dramas to have come that, despite a few logistical problems, and minor gaps, manages to keep you wondering and entertained. One of the rare web shows that understood that you don’t need eight or nine episodes to stretch things and serves its purpose in a taut and intricately woven six-episode runtime.
Also, thank you Srijit Mukherji, Rohan Sippy and Anriddha Guha for being able to make Calcutta a character, and one that you are mesmerized by after it was probably well done in Kahaani – another fabulous suspense thriller of that time.