Bob Biswas Movie Review: Abhishek Bachchan With His Disturbed Mind Masters The Balance On The Edge Of Insanity!

December 3, 2021

520 5 minutes read

Bob Biswas Movie Review Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0 stars3.50

Star Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Chitrangada Singh, Paran Bandopadhyay, Purab Kohli, Kanchan Mullick, Bhanu Uday, Vishwanath Chatterjee, Samara Tijori, Ronith Arora, Pabitra Rabha

Director: Diya Annapurna Ghosh

Bob Biswas Movie Review Out!(Photo Credit: Poster From Bob Biswas)

What’s Good: It’s been years since we talk about the efforts AB took in Guru, let’s now start talking about how amazing he did as Bob Biswas, thanks to Sujoy, Diya Ghosh’s filmmaking & the thumping music

What’s Bad: We won’t be able to witness the mystery unfold on a big screen

Loo Break: You blink, you miss!

Watch or Not?: This is for every one of you snobs who complaint “Bollywood has stopped making good content yaaaaa!” It’s here, go watch it or else Bob Biswas is coming for you

Available On: Zee5

Runtime: 131 minutes

User Rating:

We’re dropped straight into the heartland of Kolkata to get introduced to a new drug that tackles ‘attention deficiency’ named Blue. It’s illegal & a rage among teenagers wanting to hold their focus. One teenager who turns into a Blue-addict is Mini (Samara Tijori), a bright & scholar student welcoming her out-of-coma step-father Bob Biswas (Abhishek Bachchan) at home. Bob has lost his memory and doesn’t remember a single thing about his existence.

Throughout the first half, he gets introduced to many people he was related to but couldn’t remember any of them. A couple of officers from the special branch ask him to *enters Borat’s killing sign here* people to maintain the balance between evil & good. A confused ‘insurance agent’ Bob is left with no choice but to go and kill random strangers. What happens next? Has he really forgotten everything or all of this is just a mousetrap for something fishy? Well, that’s the mystery of Bob Biswas for you!

Bob Biswas Movie Review(Photo Credit: Still From Bob Biswas)

Bob Biswas Movie Review: Script Analysis

The mystery of this thriller lies in its tightly-knitted story, multiple mini shocks & well-packaged dialogues, thanks to the brilliance of Sujoy Ghosh. It’s not just Bob getting introduced to this whole new world for the first time, it’s all of us going through the same together with him. The beauty lies in its unpredictability because we don’t exactly know what to expect from the antagonist. In a scene, Bob asks his wife, “Am I a good person or a bad one?” & that’s exactly what all of us will ask the makers, as they soothingly put together each layer of the puzzle pacing towards a competent climax.

Gairik Sarkar retains his love for darker tones as his camerawork proves to be the anchor, for the neo-noir storyline Sujoy pens flourishing daughter Diya Annapurna Ghosh’s direction. Editor Yasha Ramchandani, despite having a tight script, never rushes into things to get to a point. If the story is introducing its characters, it takes its own sweet time to do so & I didn’t mind, yet again reminding everyone to eliminate ‘pace’ as a form of criticism for any film. Because this is the perfect example of how you stretch it a bit just to develop a sense of understanding the plot better.

Bob Biswas Movie Review: Star Performance

Abhishek Bachchan had two issues even before deciding to be Bob Biswas, it was to get into a required physique and replace a talent like Saswata Chatterjee. This had more risks of everything going haywire than any other character he has attempted in the past. But, boy oh boy, the range he brings to the table is remarkable. From someone just waking up out of an 8-year coma, Abhishek just nails the portrayal of a confused man looking for answers. With the film, his character grows & so does his power to surprise us with multiple sequences.

Chitrangada Singh’s character works as the bridge for us to see the positive shades of Bob Biswas which weren’t part of Kahaani. She makes him look good manipulating our minds to make any final decision about Biswas’ true identity. Very much like Lance Reddick as Charon, the concierge at the Continental Hotel in John Wick we’ve Paran Bandopadhyay as Kalida running a drug store in front supplying arms as a back door business connected with the Mafia. Paran gets as natural as he could be with the body language, dialect of his character & it works as a favour for him.

Purab Kohli in a special cameo shines bright with his quirky presence as a bad guy in Bubai. Kanchan Mullick as the next-door-ass*ole is just there for two scenes but leaves a memorable mark. Bhanu Uday, Vishwanath Chatterjee as the special branch officers Jishu & Kharaj keep the intrigue alive without going over the board. Samara Tijori as Bob’s stepdaughter skillfully builds the emotional connection one would need towards the climax. Ronith Arora as Bob’s son is a wasted character, but it’s okay considering the amount of them in the film. The very talented Assamese actor Pabitra Rabha as Dhonu is yet another actor who scores big despite limited screen space. His earnest performance helps you to relate to a different shade Bob Biswas.

Bob Biswas Movie Review(Photo Credit: Still From Bob Biswas)

Bob Biswas Movie Review: Direction, Music

Diya Annapurna Ghosh unburdens herself completely from matching the standards of Kahaani set by her father & that’s completely visible from scene one. For Bob, she creates a world similar to yet completely different from Vidya Bagchi. This is Bob’s story & you’ll easily settle in his universe rather than missing what’s already done and dusted. Her transitional scenes are *chef’s kiss*, especially the one in which Samara pours in drugs in the glass but mixes coffee as the scene changes. All these minute details freshen up the narrative to earn its own recognition and novelty value.

The film is musical heaven for those expecting some offbeat tracks matching the beat of the film. Bianca Gomes’ Tu Toh Gaya Re (composed by Vishal-Shekhar) remains to be the standout performer adding the necessary groove to the feel. Clinton Cerejo & Bianca Gomes’ background score is one major reason why this universe is way different from what we’ve seen before. The way Diya coordinates with Clinton, Bianca to just completely stop the music to showcase an immediate shock in some scenes is commendable & comes across as super-cool.

Bob Biswas Movie Review: The Last Word

All said and done, Bob Biswas holds your attention not just because it has a great story but it also throws you in the middle of nowhere to figure out things. You explore multiple different facets of the story along with Bob & that’s both the beauty, mystery of the film.

Three and a half stars!