AAZ Films, Offside Entertainment and Maurya Entertainment’s Detective Sherdil is the story of a detective trying to solve a murder case.
Pankaj Bhatti (Boman Irani) is a filthy rich person who lives in Budapest with his wife, Rajeshwari (Ratna Pathak Shah), son Angad (Sumeet Vyas) and deaf and dumb daughter Shanti (Banita Sandhu). Shanti runs an NGO and has a boyfriend, Purvak (newcomer Arjun Tanwar), who is also deaf and dumb and is poor financially. Pankaj Bhatti’s brother-in-law is Bodhi (Chunkey Panday) who leads an ascetic life. One day, Pankaj Bhatti is killed in a car accident which turns out to be a murder. The needle of suspicion points to all the family members and those associated with Bhatti. Detective Sherdil (Diljit Dosanjh) is brought in to solve the murder mystery. How he solves the case forms the crux of the drama.
Sagar Bajaj, Ravi Chhabriya and Ali Abbas Zafar have written a story which is more convoluted than anything else. Their screenplay appears contrived if only because the culprit (murderer) turns out to be the most unlikely candidate. Good screenplay writing does not imply that the murderer should be the one who is the least of the suspect in the eyes of the audience. Because of this drawback, the entire drama seems forced and half-baked and is far from being engaging. The drama lacks light moments. Even the tension of a whodunit does not come through effectively enough. The trio’s dialogues are okay.
Diljit Dosanjh does an ordinary job as Detective Sherdil. Diana Penty is average as Sherdil’s associate, Natasha. Boman Irani performs ably in the role of Pankaj Bhatti. Ratna Pathak Shah is natural as Rajeshwari. Sumeet Vyas is alright as Angad Bhatti. Banita Sandhu is okay as Bhatti’s daughter, Shanti. Arjun Tanwar makes an ordinary debut as Purvak. Chunkey Panday lends average support as Bodhi. Sarah Barlondo gets no scope in the role of Angad’s wife, Elizabeth. Kashmira Irani Saxena makes her mark as house help Falak. Mikhail is okay as Danny. Mukesh Bhatt is alright as driver Jaipal.
Ravi Chhabriya’s direction is unimpressive. There’s only one rap song in the film, and it is just about okay. Joel Crasto’s background music is reasonably nice. Marcin Laskawiec’s cinematography is of a fine standard. Production designing (by Amit Sharma, Tejas Ajit Korgaonkar and Ankita Dhar) is good. Ravi Chhabriya’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Detective Sherdil is too ordinary to be liked by the audience.
Released on 20-6-’25 on Zee5.
