Detective Sherdil movie review: Diljit Dosanjh’s endearing performance can’t save this flat film

There are enough adept actors in this ensemble, led by Dosanjh, for us to expect an engaging whodunit. But the treatment is flat, making the characters even flatter, as they come on to say their lines and disappear into the wings. Why, for example, is this film set in Budapest? At least that’s what it seems like, and everyone races around in cars at top speed, screeching to a halt at large mansions and police stations which could be anywhere at all.

The fact that Shanti is hearing-and-speech impaired, and so is her boyfriend, had the potential to lift things. As did Chunky Panday’s monkish avataar. But very little sticks. It isn’t as if our canny jasoos, a cross between Byomkesh and Karamchand as he describes himself pithily, is not trying his best: we get to hear him speak English which makes for a nice change from his usual Hindi/Punjabi, look slant-eyed at lithe colleague Natasha (Diana Penty) whom he has a bit of history with, play the harmonica everytime he gets a chance, and he gets them a lot, and cracking the case.

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Dosanjh is such an endearing performer that even a sub-par sit com-type script can’t really keep him down, even if his voice-ever is never ending. But the others, including sundry foreigners who have been induced to play supporting parts, don’t fare as well. Neither does the film.

Detective Sherdil movie cast: Diljit Dosanjh, Boman Irani, Ratna Pathak Shah, Diana Penty, Sumeet Vyas, Banita Sandhu, Arjun Tanwar, Chunky Pandey
Detective Sherdil movie director: Ravi Chhabriya
Detective Sherdil movie rating: 1.5 stars