Endearing Detective Diljit

It’s a classic whodunit, says our desi Pink Panther, Detective Sherdil (Diljit Dosanjh). Of course, somewhere in the middle, he turns the phrase to “howdunnit”. Peppered with many red herrings, some dead giveaways too are thrown in. Set almost in comic book fashion, coming from the stable of Ali Abbas Zafar’s production house, ‘Detective Sherdil’ cuts no corners as far as the production design is concerned. Cinematographer Marcin Laskawiec trains his camera not only on the beauteous locales in Budapest, Hungary, but also matches the effervescent atmospherics of the film.

Otherwise, the Hindi-English feature has all the regular trappings that come with an Indian murder mystery.

A multi-billionaire, Pankaj Bhatti (Boman Irani), has been murdered. Sherdil is summoned from a vacation to solve the case. Fingers of suspicion but obviously point at the Bhatti family, which includes a disgruntled, ambitious wife Rajeshwari (Ratna Pathak Shah), a good-for-nothing son Angad (Sumeet Vyas) and deaf and mute daughter Shanti (Banita Sandhu).

As is the case with all stories concerning rich men, the key lies in his will. Strangely enough, the major beneficiary is an outsider, Purvak (Arjun Tanwar), again a speech and hearing disabled man. Since he stands to gain the most, he is the prime suspect. A hit man, an in-house maid, a brother-in-law, it’s quite a complicated web whose tentacles keep you invested until the cat begins to peep out of the bag.

With Diljit at the centre of this mystery, the tone and tenor remains light-hearted, not flippant though. More than who killed Bhatti, what keeps you going are the cryptic one-liners uttered in deadpan expression by Diljit. He is clearly in his element, enjoying this turn in his limited but impressive filmography and making it fun for us.

In the titular part, often doubling up as the narrator, too, he is the heart of the breezy film. Just watching him say “fair enough” as Rajeshwari makes an honest confession about her extra-marital affair is amusing enough. Clearly, he gets the lion’s share of the well-written dialogues. There is a definite comic slant to his character, not half as goofy as the famous Inspector Clouseau of ‘Pink Panther’.

But our desi detective, who speaks in Queen’s English too, of course in the accent typical of us Indians, is truly endearing. Fortunately, the superstar singer-actor is not saddled with any songs or dance routine, just a mouth organ which plays every now and then. There is no romantic angle, for that matter. He shares a love-hate relationship with Diana Penty’s Natasha, his team member. Diana looks lovely but her no-nonsense role is kind of underwhelming.

Other talented actors like Ratna Pathak Shah and Boman Irani, though thoroughly adept, don’t get to do as much as their talent deserves. Despite his earnestness, Sumeet Vyas is kind of wasted.

Surprisingly, among the crowd of fine actors, Chunky Panday has an interesting tweak to his part of in-house brother-in-law, Bodhi Mama, doubling up as a gardener.

Banita Sandhu, who didn’t get to say much in ‘October’, once again is Shanti personified that requires her to emote with her eyes and body language. With two key characters, Shanti and Purvak, fashioned on similar lines, sign language is indeed an integral part of the film, decoded for us in simple lingo though. Ditto for the mystery, which is not exactly revelatory; rather, it is more convoluted.

Lal rang mein lal rang… the game of deception at play isn’t the most cerebral or intriguing you will encounter. But it’s an easy watch and Diljit makes it worth your while. Can certainly relax on a lazy evening with his sleuthing skills and adrak wali chai.