The
silliness
Detective
Sherdil
packs
in
the
guise
of
humour
not
only
trivialises
a
likeable
star
but
squanders
its
ensemble
cast
into
one-note
distractions,
notes
Sukanya
Verma.
Some
filmmakers
are
akin
to
the
pompous
hare
of
the
classic
Aesop’s
fable
fame.
Like
him,
they
are
consumed
by
overconfidence,
ignore
their
gifts
and
let
hubris
have
its
way.
The
Ravi
Chhabriya-directed
Detective
Sherdil,
co-written
by
him
and
Producer
Ali
Abbas
Zaffar,
seem
so
self-satisfied
about
roping
in
Diljit
Dosanjh
as
the
titular
sleuth,
they
forget
to
work
on
anything
else.
Falling
back
on
the
done-to-death
down
Agatha
Christie
template
of
a
rich
man’s
mansion,
one
murdered
dude
and
multiple
suspects
opening
the
way
for
a
maverick
detective
to
solve
the
mystery,
Detective
Sherdil‘s
bag
of
twists
and
tricks
have
little
intrigue
and
zero
cunning.
But
the
silliness
it
packs
in
the
guise
of
humour
not
only
trivialises
a
likeable
star
but
squanders
its
ensemble
cast
into
one-note
distractions.
Its
stale
and
dull
suspense,
set
in
Budapest
for
visual
novelty,
kickstarts
when
a
moneybags
(Boman
Irani)
is
brutally
bumped
off,
setting
the
stage
for
Sherdil
—
a
blend
of
Sherlock-meets-Karamchand-meets
Byomkesh,
strictly
by
his
own
standards
—
to
crack
the
case
concerning
muddled
inheritance
and
greedy
claimants.
Armed
with
his
associates,
which
includes
Diana
Penty
as
the
slick-haired
sneering
specialist,
Sherdil
smugly
mouths
inanities
like,
‘I
find
a
problem
in
every
solution,’
hijacks
every
moment
of
an
already
annoying
Dhan
Te
Nan
brand
of
background
music
by
playing
the
harmonica
and
shoves
forced
idiosyncrasy
down
our
throats.
Apart
from
its
fancy
European
manor
interiors
and
mention
of
euros,
there’s
little
context
to
its
foreign
shores
setting
except,
perhaps,
production
expediency.
Instead,
the
focus
of
its
little
less
than
two
hours
running
time
is
on
its
sprawling
contenders
for
guilty
as
charged.
Ranging
from
the
deceased’s
hoity
toity
wife
(Ratna
Pathak
Shah),
deaf
and
mute
altruistic
daughter
(Banita
Sandhu),
vain
son
(Sumeet
Vyas),
his
gori
better
half
(Sarah
Barlondo),
a
new
age
earth
guru
in
Roman
style
cassocks
(Chunky
Pandey),
a
snoopy
house
help
(Kashmira
Irani
Saxena),
a
disabled
accountant
(Arjun
Tanwar)
and
a
heavily
tattooed
hitman
(Mikhail),
Detective
Sherdil
lays
out
its
framework
of
flashbacks
for
the
sake
of
guessing
game.
Between
the
onslaughts
of
smirks
and
scowls,
phony
phirang
accents
and
scenario
staggeringly
bereft
of
depth,
drama
and
delicious
deceit,
one
has
to
settle
for
Diljit
Dosanjh’s
grating
schoolboy
brat
passed
off
for
quirky
detective,
Ratna
Pathak
Shah
doing
yet
another
version
of
eye
rolling,
super
rich
snob
Sumeet
Vyas
mumbling
gems
like
‘think
of
the
devil
and
the
detective
arrives’
and
Chunky
Pandey,
in
all
seriousness,
giving
tight
hugs
to
an
unsuspecting
tree
while
a
killer
lurks
around.
There’s
less
‘who’
and
more
‘who
cares’
to
this
whodunit.
Detective
Sherdil
streams
on
ZEE5.
Detective
Sherdil
Review
Rediff
Rating:
