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An upright police officer fighting wrongdoing is something we have seen umpteen times before, but Khakee: The Bengal Chapter holds our interest, thanks to a layered and complex story with a dozen of well-detailed characters, observes Mayur Sanap.
First things first: No, Sourav Ganguly is *not* making his acting debut in Khakee: The Bengal Chapter. It was a marketing ploy for the crime Web series.
The second chapter in the Khakee franchise takes forward creator Neeraj Pandey's cop versus crook narrative which he introduced in 2022 with Khakee: The Bihar Chapter. While the Bihar story was adapted, the crime lore in The Bengal Chapter is fictional.
The story is centred around decorated police officer Arjun Maitra (Jeet), known for his no-holds-barred crime-solving skills. He has been just posted in Kolkata, where a recent murder of a noble policeman has ignited public rage against the authorities.
But this is just the beginning.
Arjun and his team of officers closely monitor dreaded gangster Baghadada (Saswata Chatterjee) and his illegal activities, which are sheltered and supported by powerful politician Barun Roy (Prosenjit Chatterjee).
The body count starts mounting as the cop-and-criminals cat-and-mousery begins, and Arjun takes it on himself to end criminal operations in the city.
The story template of an upright police officer fighting wrongdoing is something we have seen umpteen times before, but Khakee: The Bengal Chapter holds our interest, thanks to a layered and complex story with a dozen of well-detailed characters.
It's a dense plot with gangsters, gang wars, corrupt politicians, organ trafficking and a handful of people fighting a failed system. The story even takes us back to 1954 and 1991 to highlight the backstory of certain characters.
Directors Debatma Mandal and Tushar Kanti space out the narrative in seven entertaining episodes as they unravel this complex tale without making it too complicated.
It is only towards the final episode where things get a bit silly and you can see the show losing its potential. But by that time, we are so invested in this story and these characters that this downer doesn't hurt the powerful whole much.
Just like its predecessor The Bihar Chapter, we are presented the same gritty crime cinema sensibilities of the 1980s and 1990s with a good mix of police thriller and gangster epic. The show is further accentuated by violent energy and relentless twists and turns that keep the drama full of high stakes and thrills.
'This is not a city of joy, this is a city of bhoy (fear),' a character says at one point and the scene immediately cuts to a brutal rampage of more killings.
The star of the show is Jeet, whose performance of a morally upright police officer may feel a little familiar. Still, he commands your attention every time he is on screen, whether it is his piercing gaze or the operatic bravura of his slow-mo walks.
Prosenjit Chatterjee and Saswata Chatterjee don't get much scope and play slightly different forms of the charismatic crooks they have done before.
As justice-seeking politician Nibedita, Chitrangda Singh takes a little time to warm up to her character but ultimately, leaves an impression as the most human character in the show.
Bandish Bandits' Ritwik Bhowmik departs from his sweet and affable image and tunes into the ruthlessness of a power-seeking hoodlum. He is especially terrific in episode five.
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter streams on Netflix.
