Kay Kay Menon, Ranvir Shorey, Rasika Dugal's 'Shekhar Home' web-series review: A satisfying watch even if not pulpy enough

Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Ranvir Shorey, Rasika Dugal, Shernaz Patel

Director: Rohan Sippy and Srijit Mukherjee

Language: Hindi

Sherlock Holmes can have many faces, personalities, and interpretations. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the man who birthed him. His work deserves many more series and works like this one. Writers Aniruddha Guha, Vaibhav Vaishal, and Niharika Puri now create another face, personality, and interpretation in the form of a man called Shekhar Home with the help of director duo Rohan Sippy and Srijit Mukherjee. This is an interesting choice of directors as one filmmaker takes care of the milieu the other takes care of the mystery. Sippy has created two solid plot twists in Bluffmaster and Dum Maaro Dum. So for him to direct something on the lines of one of the greatest detectives is nothing surprising.

And equally remarkable is the cast of the show. Kay Kay Menon has always been a magnetic actor with an arresting aura. The facial intensity and intimating eyes are well enough to engage you in the characters he plays, especially in the good choices. Shekhar Home is a good choice since he can go awry and awfully wrong at times. His ally is Ranvir Shorey, who’s much suited for acting on screen than in Bigg Boss. It was wonderful to see the lovely Shernaz Patel, who’s always affectionate with her words and brims with eloquence. And the third wheel here is Rasika Dugal. A Mirzapuresque commanding aura is what she brings to the table here.

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Detectives are supposed to be dapper, and Menon is full of that. But they also need a sharp sense of observation. Think of a girlfriend spying on the man she suspects of cheating on him. Every movement of the muscle will be carefully curated and seen, that’s exactly how detectives are and should be. You fumble, they catch your bluff. And the quant city of Kolkata that also bursts with chaos is a nice choice to set the show in.

But this is more than just murder mystery. We don’t have to wait till the end to wait for the killer to be revealed. This is not Mohra or Gupt where one plot twist will leave you shaken. This is an atmospheric world where every one is a suspect because the whole show is seen through the detective’s eyes. And it also involves a lot of brisk banter between Shorey and Menon, and it’s always great to see two actors, fine and seasoned, chew on all the meat their characters have. Shekhar Home is not great, but it does put a smile to your face, albeit a little twisted.

Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)

Shekhar Home is now streaming on JioCinema