Talmar Romeo Juliet review: Forget Shakespeare, watch it for Anujoy Chattopadhyay and Anirban Bhattacharya’s duel

Directed by Arpan Garai and penned by Durbar Sharma, Talmar Romeo Juliet is a love story that broadly borrows the outline of Shakespeare’s tragedy. 

Anujoy Chattopadhyay and Anirban Bhattacharya in Talmar Romeo Juliet 

Talmar Romeo Juliet story

Badal Majumder (Kamaleswar Mukhopadhyay) and Liyaqat’s (Joydeep Mukherjee) families harbour animosity for each other for years. Badal’s eldest son Somnath (Anujoy Chattopadhyay) and Liyaqat’s nephew pugnacious Mostaq (Anirban Bhattacharya) do not see eye to eye. However, Rana – Badal's younger son, and Jahanara – Liyaqat's daughter and the apple of his eye, love each other. All this drama takes place in a small town, Talma.  

Talmar Romeo Juliet review

Keeping the broadest outline of Shakespeare's Romeo Juliet intact, adding local colours with traces of wry humour sprinkled gleefully into it, creating absurd, to the point of bizarre, situations and finally, ending the show in a concoction makes Talmar Romeo Juliet quite entertaining. However, Shakespeare's philosophy of the play that drew millions of critics into his universe is lost in the process. The tragedy ultimately becomes an entertainer. And that’s about it. It digresses from Shakespeare so much that often an un-Shakesperean character becomes the strength of the show. We will get to that later.  

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However, if you take Shakespeare off Arpan Garai’s Talmar Romeo Juliet (TRJ), it is a fabulous watch. The tale is adroitly spun off by Durbar Sharma (who also plays Tapan delectably). Anirban, who has been an integral part of recent Shakepeare’s screen adaptations (Mandaar from Macbeth and Atthoi from Othello) in Bangla, leaves his signature in the making, especially in the beginning and end. And their loyal DOP Soumik Halder presents yet another commendable job like always. Together, they have put up an undeniably entertaining and engaging show.  

Arpan and his team have paid tribute to Bengali mainstream cinema. While the Bard is behind the title of the last episode, Naamey Ki Eshey Jay (What's in a name?), each of the episodes is titled after a superhit Bangla commercial cinema (with a special focus on Raj Chakraborty) or a line from a superhit film song.  

Bangla cinema has forgotten to look into its towns. TRJ introduces us to this small town and its people. Their dialect smells the soil of the land. Durbar’s upbringing in North Bengal has added that dash of desired dirt effortlessly. The premise of this story – para prem (a love story between a local hero and a neighbourhood princess) – is fading out rapidly from the face of Kolkata. Hence, the makers take us to Talma – a small town at the foothills of the Himalayas. Their community-based (not at all communal) love story adds an extra dimension to the tale. 

Romeo and Juliet is not just a love story and so is TRJ. What starts with Rana (Debdutta Raha) and Jahanara (Hiya Roy), turns into the battleground between Somnath and Mostaq. And the show cannot help but bank heavily on the unputdownable duel between two actors Anujoy and Anirban.  

Also read: Anirban Bhattacharya: 'Being close with producer Shrikant Mohta did not get me any extra advantage' | Exclusive 

TRJ is Anirban’s best work so far – not only in terms of his acting but also in terms of his creative involvement. He dons a cruel look with kohled eyes that hides his heartbreak. He is effortlessly fierce.  

Anujoy, on the other hand, owns the show, so much so that at times, he outperforms Anirban with his sheer underacting. There is a scene in a male washroom. Mostaq, known to be a combative character, picks up a fight. A reluctant Somnath dodges the trap but not without showing Mostaq his place. Anirban and Anujoy drop some class act in that scene. Just like this Anujoy owns scene after scene, sometimes, singlehandedly, in TRJ. These two actors can very well be your reason to watch the show.  

And that brings us back to the question: Is TRJ a good adaptation? The answer is, no, simply because a character like Somnath, who is barely someone from the Bard’s universe, simply steals the show when the other authentic characters fall short.   

But we still feel the celebration of TRJ. Our Romeo and Juliet, Debdutta, and Hiya are pretty and convincing. The other character actors end up hogging all the limelight. For example, Joydeep Mukherjee as Liyaqat, Jahanara’s father. He begins slowly and then starts ruling over. The scene where he offers sweets to Badal and threatens Rana with a smile of certainty is brilliant. So is Kamaleswar as Badal, who falls short of Liayaqat’s charisma, but he is equally proud. Kamaleswar delivers a solid performance. Ujaan Chatterjee as Papai, Shiladitya Chatterjee as Deep, and Buddhadev Das as Siddiqi not only add humour but also impress with their strong performance.  

After the acting department, it is the music that deserves to be celebrated. Debraj Bhattacharya’s songs are already popular on social media. The romance of Chupisare Bhalobasha, the melancholy of Shona Bondhu Re, celebration of Laal Rong – every song is worth the mention. In fact, the BGM, which is rightfully loud at times, is fitting.  

While the script is TRJ’s forte, it is not undisputedly flawless. Most of the female characters are painted with swift strokes of brush. Neither Payel De nor Dana Ray could wing out to fly despite having every circumstantial opportunity solely because of a lack of care in the script. 

Talmar Romeo Juliet verdict

TRJ is an entertaining Bengali show that cannot be missed. One can, and will in fact, have to, revisit the show a number of times to absorb the tremendous teamwork that the makers – Arpan, Durbar, and Anirban – have put forward. Each of the actors deserves to be lauded. Each song has to be hummed. And many scenes have to be revisited. One may just want to keep the Bard away.  

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