Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bidita Bag, Jatin Goswami
Director: Kushan Nandy
Rating: 2.5/5
Two professional assassins are drinking on a bridge over railway tracks, sharing their life stories and reminiscing how they entered into the business of killing people.
One of them considers the other his teacher. The junior has so much admiration for the senior that he has renamed himself Banke Bihari (Jatin Goswami) out of respect for his guru, Babu Bihari (Nawazuddin Siddiqui).
Nawazuddin isn't at his best for he can be only as good as the script allows him to be. Bidita Bag makes a fair fist of her first Bollywood lead role. Jatin Goswami, too, makes his presence felt. Another proven actor who finds herself hard done by amid the mayhem is Divya Dutta.
The only surprise - nay, shock - that Babumoshai Bandookbaaz delivers is an instrumental rendition of a Rabindranath Tagore hymn (Aguner Parashmoni) arranged by composer Debojyoti Mishra for the end credits. Has the bard ever had such an ignominy heaped upon him - tailed so casually to a film that revels in blood and gore? The lyric is a prayer seeking purification by fire. If that is what the makers of this film are looking for, let it be said that even a full-fledged inferno cannot purge Babumoshai Bandookbaaz