Bijoya review: Swastika Mukherjee’s show is hard-hitting and impactful

3.5/5

Bijoya story: 

Bijoya is based on the grisly ragging incident and the subsequent death of a young student at Jadavpur University that shook the country last year. Nilanjan Basu (Debdutta Raha) – a meritorious student from Naihati – gets admitted to a big educational institution for further studies. Soon after his admission, his mother Bijoya (Swastika Mukherjee) gets a call that her son Nilanjan attempted to end his life. After her husband’s death, she knows it is unlikely for her son to end his life. 

Bijoya review: 

A 17-year-old boy died after falling from the balcony of the Boy’s Main Hostel of Jadavpur University last year. Upon investigation, allegations of grisly ragging and sexual assault were unfolded. This incident shook the country. Sayantan Ghosal borrowed fragments from the real-life incident and built an independent story for Bijoya which is hard-hitting and impactful. 

Also read: Exclusive! Swastika Mukherjee teams up with Sayantan Ghosal for a web series and here is what it is based on… 

Sayantan does not disappoint with his storytelling, especially if it is a thriller. Bijoya is no exception. It is largely muted and takes its own time to unfold itself. Each of the episodes has a cliffhanger ending that keeps us glued. As a result, the show does not drag itself despite being slow. The plot is well-developed, the dialogues are largely organic and the screenplay is almost seamless. It plays with the timeline and the to-and-fro storytelling works well. 

Performances are the key to the show. Swastika is as unputdownable as Bijoya. The character is sombre yet resolute and the actress seems perfect in her skin. She blends her motherly instinct and femininity with her acting prowess and delivers Bijoya. That can’t go wrong. Debdutta Raha mesmerises as Nil. 

Also read: Exclusive! Raunak Dey Bhowmick on his OTT debut Bijoya: Swastika Mukherjee is fun to work with 

Bidipta Chakraborty is outstanding as well. However, her character is not convincingly written. A bit more background of her character could have made Bijoya’s journey a bit more realistic. Gulshana Khatun also performs well. But she has been typecast in similar characters. Jeet Sundar is an outstanding actor and he proves it with each of his works. He is convincing as Nil's friend.  

Meanwhile, it is Shaheb Chattopadhyay who steals the show with his ruthlessness. There is something very polite about the way the actor looks in real life. The ruthlessness of his character stands in contrast to his appearance and that works well. Raunak Dey Bhowmick makes a mark through the scenes of his atrocities. 

All said and done, Bijoya is not flawless. Under the garb of subtlety, it often goes overboard with melodrama. The last scene of the second episode is an imposed effort to draw the attention of the audience. The climax could also have been a bit tighter. Also, all the characters in the show are broadly catagorised in black and white, without an iota of grey. Media has largely been soft target by the popular culture and this series in no exception. While the redemption through Debi Saha's (who performs well) is well executed, the overall representation of mainstream media is predictable. That is a bit tiring. However, Sayantan masters the skill of drawing a line beyond which he refuses to explain, elaborate, or entertain. That works in his favour.  

Bijoya verdict:

It is a must-watch. Bijoya is arguably one of the good shows of Hoichoi. Like Sampurna, it delves into one of the most horrifying social menaces in our society and is presented in a simple platter. Bijoya does its job well.