Indian television, at least in its heyday, brought us some of the most memorable detective characters. By those standards, recent streaming shows, despite being touted as a new playground for creativity and uniqueness, have struggled to leave a lasting impression. However, one significant exception last year was Vishal Bhardwaj’s “Charlie Chopra & The Mystery Of Solang Valley,” a charming series featuring Wamiqa Gabbi in a humorous and irreverent role. This year, acclaimed actor Kay Kay Menon ventures into the detective genre, collaborating again with director Srijit Mukherji, whom he previously worked with on “Ray,” to bring a classic character to life.
Kay Kay Menon plays the role of Shekhar Home, a Bengali take on Sherlock Holmes, in Mukherji’s new series, which is currently streaming on JioCinema. Set in the 1990s in a fictional and sleepy town called Lonpur, the show adapts Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic stories but infuses them with a distinctive Bengali flavor. “Ei to jibon, Kali da (such is life, Kali brother),” Shekhar tells a suspect in the opening episode with a delicious drawl. The local café is whimsically named ‘Khasha Blanca’.
“Home is a bona fide surname in Bengal,” Kay Kay explains. “Our show is very Indian. It takes place in the early 1990s, a time when we didn’t have computers or electronic gadgets. So, detection becomes much more interesting and physical in nature. The town itself is very sleepy, lazy, reminiscent of the time of Malgudi Days.”
Kay Kay expresses his admiration for Jeremy Brett’s portrayal of Sherlock Holmes on British television, which he considers his favorite. Though the promotional poster shows him wearing a deerstalker, he approached the character from the inside out, avoiding the clichéd professional mannerisms. “I play the person, not the profession,” Kay Kay states. “My focus isn’t on how quickly Shekhar can use a prop. I can never fully grasp the intricacies of a job, but I can understand a person, a human being. Acting is a psychological process we follow.”
Growing up, Kay Kay devoured Conan Doyle’s stories, along with works by Agatha Christie, The Hardy Boys, and Enid Blyton’s “The Famous Five.” He believes that a child’s mind is at its most imaginative and inquisitive at that age. This habit of visualizing narratives in detail has persisted into his adulthood. “Often, long after I’ve shot a scene, the image that stays with me is the one I had pictured in my mind while reading the script,” he says. This occurred often during the filming of “Shekhar Home.” “The production would remind me of the scene we shot at the market, but I would be thinking of my mental image instead.”
Kay Kay previously described himself as an ‘impressionist’ actor, a term traditionally associated with painting. Now, he introduces a new term: ‘simulator’. “In modern flight simulators, the experience of flying a plane is so realistic that crash mode has been removed because it caused heart attacks.
. My job as an actor is similar; my simulation of a character must be life-like.”
Kay Kay is an actor who has always respected the intelligence of his audience, even the Hindi film audience. He uses subtle gestures and hints where others might go for dramatic flair. This trust in his audience’s intelligence has remained steadfast throughout his three-decade-long career. In the film “Sarkar” (2005), he played the character Vishnu, whose lustful and malevolent stare at a young starlet left a powerful impression on viewers.
“I sincerely believe that audiences are intelligent. They might not be intellectual, but they are smart and adept at navigating life’s challenges. If they can manage life, why not a film?”
Kay Kay has found renewed success on streaming platforms. His recent works include “The Great Indian Dysfunctional Family,” the critically acclaimed “Farzi,” two seasons of “Special Ops,” “Bambai Meri Jaan,” and the survival drama “The Railway Men.” He also has a ‘glorified cameo’ in the upcoming “Citadel: Honey Bunny,” led by Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu. Another series, “Murshid,” is set to release later this month.
Recently, Menon has been more active in the press circuit. Before this interview, he completed a shoot with a youth platform, engaging in rapid-fire questions and giving advice for Generation Z. His Instagram page, with 407k followers and 477 posts, features mainly work announcements, promotions, and occasional collaborations and festival greetings. Despite its engagement, it remains impersonal.
“Social media is part and parcel of our lives nowadays,” Kay Kay acknowledges. “I mostly use it to promote my films. I have nothing against any tool or technology; creating a one-minute reel requires great skill and creativity. But that’s not my forte.”
Kay Kay’s last film in theatres was the sports drama “Love All” (2023). Once considered a superstar in the alternate cinema space alongside actors like Irrfan Khan and Manoj Bajpayee, he now observes that this space has largely transitioned to streaming. “Throughout my career, content-driven cinema has often been touted to become mainstream, but it never quite happens,” he laughs.
He attributes this to the Indian audience’s preference for larger-than-life entertainment. “Blockbusters are the game in India. You cannot take that away from the audience. They want the buffet, not one nutritious meal.”
“Shekhar Home” is currently streaming on JioCinema.