the most powerful thing about this writing and this character and why it's called a classic why any classic is called a classic is because it's timeless right classics are timeless and this is the epitome of classic literature this is the most favorite thing in the world...
Transcript
Let's start with this it's a fantastic collector's edition sherlock holmes it's the complete sherlock holmes by sir arthur conan doyle and uh i am lucky enough to have this leatherbound edition in my collection thanks to cool school my favorite bookstore in delhi goodgo ncr and probably in the whole of the country i wanted to start with this was because it's important to talk about this before i can talk about anything else sir arthur kand doyle wrote this character this brilliant character in 1887 yes that's when he created sherlock holmes and the genius of that man to create a consulting detective back in 1887 just absorb that information cuz it also got to me the first time i understood it all and then when i got this and i reread all his works then it really got to me that how he wrote this character back in 1887 a detective who is into forensic science and deductive reasoning
the most powerful thing about this writing and this character and why it's called a classic why any classic is called a classic is because it's timeless right classics are timeless and this is the epitome of classic literature this is the most favorite thing in the world for me that i've read and it still holds true you pick up this character you pick up this setting and if you're true through to the core of what sir arthur kand doyle wrote then you're going to have a winning piece in your hand you can take this character and move it in the hands of guy richi it will be successful you can take this character and modernize it to the extent that the sherlock hommes in that googles of information and it'll blow everyone off and you can take the same character put him in new york change the gender of the second most popular character in the series and it'll still become popular and you can take this character bring him to the 1990s kolkata in india and you would still have a winner in your hands i am talking about a tv series called Shekhar Home on Jio cinema.
Shekhar Home is a surprisingly good tv series it's short six episodes very very tight i use the word surprising because as soon as i saw the name i knew that is is going to be based on sir arthur kand doy's work i wasn't sure how it's going to land and would they be true to the core of the material anud gua is credited as the creator of shikar home and anud gua as well as srijit mukarji share the writing credits on the show and let me say this they have done a fabulous job of taking this work and adapting it to indian sensibilities to the kolkata of 1990s and creating stories which are going to be really really really entertaining for a large portion of the population
set in 1990s kolkata in a small town called lur is shaker home played brilliantly by kk manan he's living as a paying guest no surprise and he has a mrs hed who's the caretaker and the owner of the place from the first episode itself he gets a roommate who is a war veteran doctor yes if you're familiar with the work then you know that this war veteran doctor is none other than a character based on dr john watson in this case it's jat played by ranir shi the setup is delightful and cute and very very intriguing so as soon as the show starts from the first episode itself you are pulled into this world
are a lot of things that i love in this show but right up there at the very top is kk menan you cannot ignore how good he is in this show and the best part about his performance is that he's not trying to emulate any of the p shocks that have been so popular and he brings in his own peculiarities and his own nuance which are beautiful to watch there are a couple of very very adorable tells or triggers that he has as shaker home one of them is this laugh that he has with almost a a giggle of sorts which is a sarcastic giggle the character like this it is so easy to go overboard because there is just so much material there are so many idiosyncrasies there are so many eccentricities of this character that you can very very easily go over the top but manan is such a fine actor that he never goes overboard
story playing jaat who's resembling dr john watson's character is also very very good he is another fine actor and i'm glad that he's coming back and getting some mey roles i would say that ran's performance is one of the best in the show i didn't love it as much as i loved some of the other things in the show but it still doesn't let the level of the show drop two more fascinating characters that have been brought to life brilliantly are micraft sherlock's brother in this case muno and irene adler in this case iaati played brilliantly by rasika dugal the two episodes that rasika dugal is a part of or maybe three but especially two of those the one where she's introduced and the one where she comes back are my favorite episodes from the season for sure
adaptation is great the setup is fabulous the characters have been brought to life really well the actual writing and the narrative let's talk about that the way the first season is constructed is very very thoughtful and out of the six episodes five of these have really tight cases the sixth one is a mix of flashback as well as current happenings i'm not calling it a case but there is still a mystery to it and possibly one of the biggest mysteries to it all these cases have been written very very well there is enough in each of these to keep you hooked and you would want to know what's going to happen and how it's going to get solved where each of these cases has been written and the way each of these episodes unfold is another highlight of this show because it balances the storytelling and the mystery solving along with the characters so beautifully there is never a moment where one overpowers the other where there was a lot of scope for that to be done because you've got such powerful characters in sherlock holm and watson at one end as well as iene adler but not once does that happen the credit to kk manan's performance to the writing as well as the direction
in the first season i've already said my favorite episodes are the ones where iaati or irene adler comes in rasika dugal playing that fascinatingly well fe ming is the first episode where she comes in and is introduced and basar villa is the second where where she comes back and hats off and a huge salute to the writing to adapt hounds of baskerville to this i just so so happy with how this episode has been written how this case has been constructed and adapted to this setting guys anud gua and srijit mukarji brilliant hats off for doing this because this hounds of baskerville is one of my favorite sherlock stories and i was very very concerned when i read that name of the episode but how beautifully you guys have written this is just so so damn cool i was really happy with that hats off episode that i'd like to give a shout out to i mean this will be the third out of the six so you clearly know that this is a good series and each of these episodes is very good but again coming back the episode that i'd like to give a shout out to is gor which is the finale of this season and it is a very very good finale it's it's surprising fascinating and intriguing in equal parts
in a show like this there are so many opportunities for you to pay homage to the original creator of sherlock holmes after kand doyle as well as some of the past portrayals of these characters and this this show does that very very adorably i don't think i can discuss a lot of these homages in detail because it'll give away a lot of the mystery and i don't want to give out these spoilers first interaction between shikar and iaati which is sherlock and irene adler is beautiful to watch these two are at the top of their game kk menan and rasika dugal and that interaction that entire episode i've spoken about this already twice but their interactions are to die for another homage is when finally at the very end of this season kk menan dawns the cap as well as the pipe and the coat i think that is such a nice homage to pay off and uh i was really happy and all smiles looking at that for all the other homages and nuances you will have to go ahead and watch shaker home on geoc cinema
it is a fabulous show that most people would love i'm not stopping here i still want to talk about a few things that i did not like i think the overall writing while it's great and how it adapts these things it just brings down the level of the mysteries a little too much i get that we trying to appeal to a larger audience but i would have enjoyed it a little more if it wasn't dumbed down to that level watson's character or j's character is used as just another character to explain what's going on to the audience and in the most basic terms so the the way it unfolds at times is really slow and you really want to get on with the narrative and and the overall pace of the episode thing that i had the most problem with is the overall production and the art direction of the show i get that there isn't a big budget here i just feel that the production and art direction the investment or lack of it really led down the show in a few episodes for sure finale definitely being one of those the last thing that i did not like was kti kar's character it is not written well at all it is very very patchy and i get in a way why it's written the way it's written and why it's portrayed the way it's portrayed on screen but it's still not convincing at all i really feel that a flashback was required here to do more justice to this character and even if it was written the way it was written i do not think kti kari is been able to dawn the skin of the character very very well
but overall what a show kk man and hats off brilliant brilliant fabulous loved watching every minute that he was on screen and he was on screen almost throughout so you know i loved this saw an gua once again for creating this and adapting this to this setting loved so much about this show highly recommend that you go ahead and watch this it's streaming on gio cinema shake her home go watch it right now