Hindi 'Byomkesh' for youth, says Dibakar

Asserting that his forthcoming film "Detective Byomkesh Bakshi" is targeted at the youth, critically acclaimed filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee said he wants youngsters to accept the detective as a "big hero".

"It's mainly for the Hindi film audience, for the youth audience...those who watch 'Kai Po Che!'and 'Barfi!'...I want them to take Byomkesh as a big hero," Banerjee told mediapersons here Tuesday.

"It is a Hindi film with a big budget," said Banerjee who earlier made films like "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!" and "Shanghai".

To be made under the Yash Raj Films banner, the film is based on one of the 33 crime thrillers penned by famed Bengali writer Sharadindu Bandopadhyay with Byomkesh Bakshi as the protagonist between 1932 and 1970.

Featuring Sushant Singh Rajput of "Kai Po Che!" fame as the popular detective, the movie will be set in war-torn Kolkata (then Calcutta) of 1942. It will follow one of the first cases solved by a twenty-something Byomkesh, fresh out of college, and "an adventurous, young, and thrill-loving youth who wants to be a detective".

However, the director declined to reveal the name of the specific novel on which the film is based upon. But he revealed that the Yash Raj Films had bought the rights of "31 of Byomkesh novels in all languages outside Bangla".

"We excluded Bangla as we don't want Bengali audiences to be alienated from Byomkesh...it's a mark of respect. I want to make Byomkesh for the Hindi film audience, the pan Indian audience and the international audience, god willing," said Banerjee.