Abir displays all round histrionics in The Royal Bengal Tiger

Not able to retort (not in their nature) by some is taken as a weakness by many. But not many know that in such people lies a sleeping dragon which when awakened can make people tremble. Abhirup (Abir Chatterjee) is one such man in Rajesh Ganguly’s The Royal Bengal Tiger while Jeet (Anjan) awakens the sleeping dragon in him. Like any other face in the crowd, Abhirup’s life is as normal on the surface as it could be; he’s got a secured job, a loving wife, a cute kid and a promise of getting promoted in office. But as we move further, the smooth surface of his life fails to hide the dark world inside - a man scared to the bone. He stands helpless when a sly office colleague (Shantilal) sabotages his job so much so that he is refused promotion, when his tenant (Kharaj) refuses to pay the balance six month's rent and humiliates him in front of his wife (Priyanka). He never utters a word when his friend-cum-colleague (Shraddha) gets molested in front of his eyes. When all this is eating into his head, comes on the scene his childhood friend and saviour Anjan (Jeet) who makes a comeback in his life and turns the mousey Abhirup into a tiger; ready to avenge. Firstly, they decide to take on his office colleague. One night the two go to the office in hiding, sneak away the office keys, get into the office and ransack the same. Anjan feels that one should be paid by the same coin as one receives (The GM displaced him on the wrong allegations by his office colleague). The same night on returning home, Abhirup goes in to demand rent from his tenant. And when the man refuses to budge, he drubs him right and left that injures him a lot. Shortly, Abhirup comes home and gives his wife some money (the balance amount of rent) on an excuse that the tenant gave him the money on his own having got the same from a borrower. His wife is happy. The next morning when he reaches the Metro station he sees the guys who had molested his female colleague. As if the demon had got into him, Abhirup gives all of them a severe beating and while washing his hands on one of them he happens to pass on a bypassing taxi that has his female colleague sitting in. The story continues…. Abir’s Abhirup is outstanding (the childlike innocence, inherent politeness, the helplessness and after the transformation the barely contained rage and new-found confidence), while Jeet’s Anjan is very good as always. The director has seen to it that he gets good performances from the supporting cast too. Though the film is good, it leaves a lot queries unanswered. Like what happens the next day at the office after it is ransacked. At this point, the saving grace is the editing. It is for Shree Narayan Singh’s sharp cutting skills that the film moves at a brisk pace. And that is the reason why the general audience will not be able to spot any faults. The production value are good, the music by Sanjoy Choudhuri is also good especially the background score that goes along the theme of the film. On the whole, the film is worth a dekko for Abir and Jeet’s acting.