'Bob Biswas' review: Abhishek Bachchan turns the deadly assassin into a family man

In 2012, filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh and writer Advaita Kala created the iconic character Bob Biswas in the unforgettable film 'Kahaani'. Played by the versatile Saswata Chatterjee, the film was not centred around him but on Vidya Balan but despite limited screen presence, Chatterjee made his character- a deadly assassin one of the most iconic characters of Hindi cinema.

In 2021, as Ghosh's daughter Diya Annapurna Ghosh makes her debut as a film director with a spin-off story on the iconic character in ZEE5's 'Bob Biswas', she makes him mellow, humanizing the killer complete with a wife and two kids.

Featuring Abhishek Bachchan as Bob Biswas, who once killed mercilessly, the new film delves more into Bob's personal life and how he wants to change himself for his family. The film opens with Bob getting discharged from the hospital after being in a comatose state for 8 years. His wife Mary (Chitrangada Singh) and young song Benny (Ronith Arora) take him home which he has no recollection of. Bob also has a daughter Mini (Samara Tijori) who is preparing for a medical entrance. A deadly assassin at one point in time, Bob, we are told, met with an accident and now has lost his memory. Even as he and his family want to start afresh, Bob is unwittingly embroiled in a nexus of drug mafia, corrupt policemen, and shady henchmen. While his memory is sketchy, he still has the skills to kill his target in point-blank range and walk out nonchalantly.

After a spate of killings which includes the murder of a drug dealer (Purab Kohli), investigative office Indira Verma (Tina Desai) takes on the case- trying to put together the missing pieces.

Bachchan's Bob Biswas is rather subtle and very confused. He isn't as cold-blooded or eerie as Chatterjee's Bob Biswas. Neither is he an intriguing character anymore. A lot of time is spent on Bob the family man- which may or may not is needed to define a character who became iconic for his unusual demeanour and a rather surprising career choice. The 2021 version of Bob Biswas is surprisingly dull, and mellowed and the story is less exhilarating than the 2012 film.