In Bengal, there are few personas whom you rarely dare to interlace with and one of them is Satyajit Ray's iconic detective character Feluda. When Srijit Mujherji decided to create his adaptation of Feluda in a web series, the expectation became sky high so were the pens of critics who were ready to tear him apart for any mistakes. But Srijit had a winner under his sleeve with a slick adaptation of Ray's master creation without deviating much from the original thoughts and narrative.
Chhinnamastar Abhishap revolves around a mystery related to the family of Mahesh Chowdhury (Dhritiman Chatterjee) and is placed in the beautifully scenic Hazaribag. It is better not to reveal the storyline as it dissolves the charm of a detective narrative.
Srijit Mukherji has decided to bring out the character of Feluda exactly as illustrated by Ray and it has been perfectly portrayed by Tota Roy Chowdhury. The difficult part was to handle the emotion on the face of the iconic detective, and it has been captured intelligently by the director with minimum expression. It seems lot of emphasis has been given on the voice modulation of Tota and it blends perfectly with the narrative. The director decided to make the character of Topse a bit subdued than previously portrayed characters, but it never hampers the flow of the narrative. Anirban Chakrabarti has the most difficult part to portray as Jatayu but he does so convincingly.
There are some scenic locations and those have been used aesthetically in the narrative. Srijit Mukherji paced the narrative brilliantly and it flows with the music like old Hollywood classics. Knowing the fact that the story of Chhinnamastar Abhishap must have been read by many already, he focuses on the presentation of the narrative more, rather than creating unnecessary suspense and that holds the key to the success. And it charms the viewers to watch it multiple times with a fragrance of nostalgia and a scent of an adventurous thriller.
“Chhinnamastar Abhishap” is streaming on Adda Times.
