Bihar to Bengal, Khakee colour fades

The second outing of a well-made franchise is a tough nut to crack. ‘Khakee: The Bengal Chapter’, a standalone sequel to Neeraj Pandey’s acclaimed series ‘Khakee: The Bihar Chapter’, faces the same acid test of great expectations. The anticipation is high, but can the master of thrillers up the game once again, or ends up delivering more of the same? Showrunner Pandey’s creative signature is writ all over as the series brims with immense possibilities. Only, these mostly remain unrealised.

The subject at hand, a self-righteous cop pitted against the politician-gangster nexus, is nearly on the same lines as ‘The Bihar Chapter’, which was based on the memoir, ‘Bihar Diaries: The True Story of How Bihar’s Most Dangerous Criminal Was Caught’, by Amit Lodha. ‘The Bengal Chapter’ is a fictional story written by Pandey, Debatma Mandal and Samrat Chakroborty.

Indeed, there is nothing new in the oft-explored premise of the incorruptible versus the viciously corrupt. Yet, it is authentic enough, in keeping with the spirit of the City of Joy, though here it makes us wonder if it is the City of Bhoy — the Bengali touch is delectable! What is exciting is how the thriller based in Kolkata of the early 2000s gets its atmospherics right. ‘Ek aur rang bhi dekhiye Bengal ka…’ is the title track by Jeet Ganguly, only the ‘rang’ is blood-soaked. Yes, you get to see a different Kolkatascape, well shot by a team of cinematographers and some fine detailing and cultural specificity too.

For most parts, the language, however, is Hindi. Yet, whenever the characters speak in Bengali, there is greater resonance.

Credit goes to its impressive talent pool of Bengali actors, including Parambrata Chatterjee’s cameo as the police officer Saptarshi Sinha.

Prosenjit Chatterjee (also seen in ‘Jubilee’) literally leads from the front. As the vile but sophisticated politician Barun Roy, he keeps the excitement going in this crime thriller. In cahoots with gangster Bagha (Saswata Chatterjee), he is the mastermind of political machinations, with strong Machiavellian undertones. Slyness runs in the blood of most of ‘Khakee’ inhabitants, which sets the tone for gore too. Decapitated heads, blood spurting around, graphic violence is the name of the game in this world of goons who kill without mercy. Certain characters have a backstory to account for their evil deeds.

Women appear on the sidelines as wives et al. Except there is Chitrangada Singh as Nibedita Basak, Leader of the Opposition, throwing in some sharp bytes. A woman police officer, Aratrika (Aakanksha Singh), too, is part of the Pandey template. The series starts well and to begin with, is pregnant with suspense. A car with two police officers is hit. Aratrika is caught, tied to a chair, held captive and her captor forces her to divulge details of a special investigation team’s operation. As we go down this dark alley, it is but obviously infested with crime, greed and corruption. Thus begins the tale of the underbelly of Kolkata and its ensemble characters.

It’s quite a casting coup and kudos to Pandey for bringing so many Bengali heavyweights together. There is Jeet making his web-series debut as an upright cop, Arjun Maitra who circumvents rules, for ends justify the means. Saswata Chatterjee as Bagha gets a meaty enough part. Among his two deputies, Ritwik Bhowmik (Radhe of ‘Bandish Bandits’) plays Sagor Talukdar. Not that a non-Bengali like Aadil Zafar Khan playing the hotheaded Ranjit Thakur is any less impressive.

Together, he and Bhowmik are quite a team. You know it’s just a matter of time before they will hold centrestage in the series and be at the centre of the illegal activities of their mentor Bagha.

‘Jai Veeru’, the name of one episode in the series, is an ode to the eternal onscreen jodi, an everlasting emblem of friendship. But as one actor said during a press conference, this dosti comes with a typical Neeraj Pandey twist. There are in fact many signature hallmarks of the ‘Special 26’ director.

Pandey, a master of cat and mouse chases and twists and turns, does not disappoint and throws a few surprises our way. Yet, the play of the familiar saps the show’s adrenalin rush, especially the divide and destroy policy which Arjun employs to get the better of his adversaries. Still, the directors and the writers manage to offset tropes with more than a dash of the unexpected.

Despite the thrill of the unforeseen, the series peters off in the final episode and climaxes almost mundanely. The airport sequences even remind you of Pandey’s earlier outings, minus the exhilaration. More interesting is the conversation Jeet’s character has with Nibedita. Indeed, in politics, one has to go with the lesser evil. And on streamers where ennui is fast setting in, watchable is as good a recommendation as any.

Pandey and his two directors do manage to have your attention all through the seven episodes. With greater freshness in writing and a more nuanced lead, the excitement could have reached another level.

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