Bob Biswas

BOB BISWAS is the story of a contract killer who has lost his memory. Bob Biswas (Abhishek A Bachchan) is married to Mary Biswas (Chitrangda Singh) and has a son Benny (Ronith Arora) and daughter Mini (Samara Tijori). 8 years ago, Bob met with an accident and has been in a coma since. Bob regains consciousness but has no memory of his past life. He doesn't even recognize Mary or his children.

Bob Biswas cannot remember. Sounds like a fun idea to pitch for a spin-off about a middle-aged insurance agent, moonlighting as a cold blooded contract killer in Kolkata. Back in 2012, when we first met him as Saswata Mukherjee in Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani, he left us gobsmacked with his casual approach to violence.

In Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani (2012), Bob Biswas, the assassin posing as an insurance agent, dies after being run over by a truck. In the Kahaani prequel named after the character, we learn that Bob Biswas not only had a rich past but a different face and body too.

At the onset, you're told that the film is based on the character Bob Biswas from Sujoy Ghosh's 2012 runaway hit, Kahaani, starring Vidya Balan. In that movie, Bengali actor Saswata Chatterjee essayed the small but memorable part of the insurance agent who's also a contract killer. Things go awry when Bob, who's out to kill Balan's Vidya Bagchi, becomes the hunted and while being chased, is hit by an incoming truck and dies.

Sambha from Sholay, Kachra from Lagaan, Bob Biswas from Kahaani ... when characters who are barely in a film's story remain memorable, you should know you have watched something special. Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani was special. Nine years after that Vidya Balan starrer created waves at the box office, here at last comes the spin-off that has been crying out to be made ever since: Bob Biswas written and co-produced by Sujoy, directed by debutant Diya Annapurna Ghosh, his daughter.

While spending time in the cinematic universe, we often come across characters whom we want to know more intimately. Hollywood has had a long list of spin-offs; the Hawkeye series is the latest. But we keep wondering what made Gabbar so ruthless in Sholay, or how about a film that tells us the motivations of the grandmother of Badhai Ho or Vicky's mother in Vicky Donor?

Diya Annapurna Ghosh's Bob Biswas raises an interesting question that it doesn't answer. Someone who loses their memory and regains it might remember their family, friends, and colleagues. They might even return to old habits. But can they find their personality back? Can their sense of right and wrong, good and bad stay intact?

A man with a past he cannot remember. A film with a past we cannot forget. Together, they should have instantly caught our imagination. In the first quarter, they almost do. And then, a degree of monotony sets in and engulfs the film. Neither Bob Biswas the thriller written by Sujoy Ghosh nor Bob Biswas the killer fleshed out by Abhishek Bachchan can hold a candle to their respective forerunners.

One of the most striking characters in Sujoy Ghosh's 2012 Kahaani was the unctuous, seemingly inoffensive, nondescript Bob Biswas. If you passed him by on the street, you would not even notice him, an enviable quality in a contract killer. Mr Biswas fulfilled his assignments with efficiency, showing up wherever he was required to be, pulling out his gun, and shooting his victim neatly between the eyes.

Bob Biswas, essayed by Saswata Chatterjee in Sujoy Ghosh's 2012 Kahaani (headlined by Vidya Balan), is etched in our minds even after almost a decade of the film's release. Chatterjee/Bob's viciously evil smile when he introduces himself as "Aami Bob Biswas...Ek Minute" (I am Bob Biswas...One minute) before shooting down his victim at point blank range is spine-chilling. His never misses his targets.