If the west has Sherlock Holmes, then India has Byomkeshi Bakshi.
Sherlock Holmes, the fictional detective, is certainly the most famous/popular fictional detective ever in literature.
Byomkesh Bakshi is the Indian version of Holmes. Created by famous writer Sharadindu Bandopadhyay, the iconic character of Byomkesh Bakshi is a private detective in Kolkata who prefers to be called Satyanweshi (The Seeker of Truth) instead of a detective. He has a companion Ajit who helps Bakshi to solve cases. Bakshi mostly works in Kolkata, but in a few stories, he worked outside Kolkata also to solve his cases. The life of Byomkesh Bakshi has been adapted to movies and serials, mostly in Bengali but it has been adapted in Hindi also.
‘Byomkesh Bakshi’ – Hindi TV Serial (1993)
The Byomkesh Bakshi television series was directed by Basu Chatterjee and it featured Rajit Kapur and K.K. Raina.
The character of Byomkesh Bakshi is one of the most iconic characters in the Bengali language and it has been made quite famous across the country by the Hindi TV serial adaptation of Byomkeshi Bakshi’s stories Basu Chatterjee. Rajat Kapoor played the titular role of Byomkesh Bakshi while K.K Raina played Ajit. It was first telecasted on Doordarshan in 1993 and had many reruns. This series had a very big part in making Byomkesh Bakshi famous outside West Bengal among the non-bengalis also.
‘Chiriyakhana’ is a 1967 movie directed by the iconic filmmaker Satyajit Ray and it’s based on a Byomkesh Bakshi story of the same name. The famous Bengali actor Uttam Kumar played the role of Byomkesh Bakshi and Shailen Mukherjee played the role of Bakshi’s companion Ajit. The film was also criticised for deviating away from the story and being unfaithful to the source material. But with passing time, it got cult status and is considered one of the best movies based on the stories of Byomkseh Bakshi.
Famous Bengali director Anjan Dutt directed the 2010 ‘Byomkesh Bakshi’ movie which had Abir Chatterjee in the titular role while Saswata Chatterjee played Ajit and Ushasie Chakraborty played Satyabati. It was a critical and box office success that prompted to make a series of Byomkesh Bakshi movies.