In Kolkata, India, a city of more than 15 million people, Rajesh Ji is a singular subject: a dedicated, world-weary private detective who solves the crimes that the city’s police can’t or won’t. Counterfeit hair products, a grisly murder and a suspected adulterer — the variety of cases he takes is as wide as Ji himself, a portly man who’s also an aspiring dance star and devoted the husband of a gravely ill woman he married for love.  

Director Phil Cox’s documentary is an intimate exploration of Ji and the investigators of his Always Agency, which specializes in “Investigatings and Security Concerns.” The film alternates between the sober realities of rampant, unsolved street crime and the unique quirks of a man who has devoted his life to justice and family, two paths that meet directly when Ji manages to persuade his PIs to enter a televised dance contest. At times gripping and funny, human and comic, THE BENGALI DETECTIVE shows crime fighting that’s as genuine and flawed as the man who anchors the film.