Baccha Shoshur review: Neither comical nor entertaining

In most of his films, Jeet is the sole carrier of the plot as the entertainer or action hero. In Biswarup Biswas's Baccha Shoshur, however, his character is overshadowed by that of his shoshur, the father-in-law.

The film, written by Pavel, has an absurd storyline which is not thoroughly comical. The emotional angles also appear forced and melodramatic.

Stand-up comedian Spandan (Jeet aka Jeetendra Madnani) is married to Jonaki (Koushani Mukherjee) and is the father of Gutlu. Gutlu suffers from a speech defect and only utters some stock words until, one day, he suddenly addresses his father with choice curse words, that too in the voice of his (Spandan’s) father-in-law (Chiranjeet Chakraborty).

The twist is that only Spandan can hear Gutlu talking in his father-in-law’s voice and so becomes a victim of his mischievous tactics. This leads Jonaki to believe Spandan is losing his sanity and hence suggests that he consult a psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist senses that Spandan has a complex equation with his father-in-law that is causing such hallucinations and inquires into it. In flashback, Spandan reveals the reasons that made him and Jonaki sever all connection with his in-laws.

The psychiatrist concludes that Spandan is suffering from psychological problems. Meanwhile, Gutlu’s mischief lands his father in more trouble. The helpless Jonaki, persuaded by the psychiatrist, admits him into an asylum.

The rest of story is about how Spandan returns from the asylum and eventually solves the mystery behind his father-in-law speaking through his son.

The character of the shoshur is what is problematic in the film. In the beginning, he mistreats his would-be son-in-law. In the end, however, he takes Spandan's help to get revenge on his son, who threw him out of his own house.

But the director fails to create any sympathy for the father-in-law as the mistreated old parent. Instead, he makes it seem as if he has got his comeuppance. Also, Spandan is not the ‘hero’ of the film. His father-in-law is. Throughout the film, Spandan just works as his medium to achieve his goal.

Spandan’s stand-up comedy pieces do not evoke much laughter. Rather it is his mimicry of other actors that makes you laugh.

The biggest drawback of the film is the nonsensical dialogues, also by Pavel, that do Jeet no favours.

Jeet considers himself a mass entertainer and usually aims to do the same with his films. In this one, however, he hardly gets an opportunity to establish his prowess. He is not funny as a stand-up comedian and his emotional sequences are rather boring.

Koushani Mukherjee delivers an average performance as her character is quite uni-dimensional.

Pavel has done a better job of sketching the supporting characters. Chiranjeet Chakraborty leaves an impact as the dreaded father-in-law. Urmimala Bose, too, leaves her mark as the submissive mother figure.

Ambarish Bhattacharya gets a lot of opportunities to showcase his acting abilities as the negative character with a complete journey. Jagannath Basu performs well as the sly, opportunistic lawyer.

Supriyo Dutta and Moloy Laha deliver their best as director of photography and editor, respectively. The 'Saiyaan Re' song is a typical romantic track while 'Baba Dayal' is quite funny.

Baccha Shoshur neither gives comic relief nor sends across any message on family and relationships. Apart from some of the serious dramatic moments of confrontation between Spandan and his father-in-law, or the son’s altercation with his father, the film is hardly engaging.