Introduction
A sequel to the web series 'Khakee The Bihar Chapter', this Netflix series focuses on fictional events set in Kolkata in the year 2002, where politics and corruption are two sides of the same coin. Starring an ensemble cast of Jeet, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee, Chitrangada Singh, Ritwik Bhowmik, Saswata Chatterjee, Aadil Zafar Khan, Subhasish Mukherjee, Mahaakshay Chakraborty, Pooja Chopra, and Aakanksha Singh, directed by Debatma Mondal and Tushar Kanti Ray, and created & written by Neeraj Pandey, this show, well, in the same vein as Paatal Lok, dives into underworld, gangsters, crime, and family. Although somewhat marred by it's treatment, this show provides much more to redeem it's faults, mainly in the form of performances.
Basic Plot
It's Kolkata in the year 2002, where crime, gang-wars, politics, government, and politics are all students of the same class. One honest officer is hell-bent on cracking things down with his SIT team, but it's easier said than done!
Positives
Performances and Technicalities
If there's any aspect about which you simply cannot complain in this series, it is surely the cast performances. I know that the cast actors are among some of the most sough-after's and they cannot go wrong with their craft, but keeping this fact aside, it's surprising to witness every single one of them, performing to their 'no room for complains' level! Not only do performances shine in particular, it's the overall combined synergical acting that pumps up this series, and you don't really get enough of the performances as there's so much to devour into! I particularly loved the designing of the characters Barun Roy, Sagor Talukdar, and Bagha, played by Prosenjit Chatterjee, Ritwik Bhowmik, and Saswata Chatterjee respectively. The intensity with which these actors played their roles is truly commendable. The dynamism of these characters have been successfully fleshed out, courtesy, a good writing and commanding acts. Jeet being the main protagonist has been given enough space, and he being a good actor has utilized most of it. It's refreshing to see him play character driven roles like these after having starred in back to back commercial outings. The interaction and and chemistry between actors Ritwik Bhowmik and Aadil Zafar Khan is definitely to watch out for mainly two reasons; first: their chemistry forms the main crux of the plot and second: it's their scenes and convincing act that keeps the series alive even after faltering in terms of execution. The rest of the cast has been given ample space too and they justify the space quite well.
The technical department does a fine job as well, which ultimately uplifts the overall look and feel of the series. Camera work has been handled by four different cinematographers but you won't feel the difference as the scenes shot by different people are unified nicely, and so the blending has been quite up to the mark. There are quite a few one take sequences which look nice, and even the hand-held shots look cool. Color grading has been good and what deserves a special mention here is the production value. Although shot at real locations across Kolkata (which naturally enhances the visuals), the indoor shots and set designing have been really commendable. It's polished and slick, yet rooted and grizzly at times to always keep up with the tone of the series. The action is alright and while the violence is quite gore (that worked for me), I didn't really feel the need of such an uplifted gory treatment of the violence.
Direction and World Building
The director duo Debatma Mondal and Tushar Kanti Ray almost perfectly pull off the environment establishment of the series. Majority of the portions are shot in North Kolkata which organically give you the old-school which is combined with the grizzly atmospheric nature to give the audience a very fault-less 2002 Kolkata. Some nominal issues (white and blue coloring of government properties, akin to the present government, were not present during the previous government) surely persist, but those are forgivable. Sophistication isn't related to the story that this series follows and kudos to the makers for not trying to unnecessarily include it, as it would've ruined the visual appeal!
The direction in particular has been good as well and while you wonder what's Neeraj Pandey's contribution here, well, it's his trademark psychic exploration that's present here as well, and that too, in a generous amount. It's already known that there are no permanent friends or foes in politics and it's the politicians who control the lowest class of the society to keep their business running, and this context has been very cleverly Neerajified! Aspects like personal problems, ego clashes, overlapping of personal and professional worlds, friendship and betrayal have been thoroughly emphasized, established, and executed in this series. Although things are not very deep here, the fact that the makers thought of reasoning the major happenings in this series, enhances the overall crime-world setup on which this show is based.
Underwhelming Aspects
Approach and Treatment
Now this is where the series feels quite unusual. I mean, it's absolutely fine if you want to experiment with your approach towards several tried and tested formula, but what you should keep in mind is keeping the format intact. This is where this series falters as the basic format is kind of compromised, and while it isn't a deal-breaker, the show feels more like a film broke into several episodes rather than a proper web series. Unlike other shows, there are no major sub-plots here, that would contribute to the other major happenings. And not only that, 'Khakee The Bengal Chapter' follows a non linear screenplay (much like what Shridhar Raghavan does), and that too in a commercial way (the narrator easily recounts past incidents where she wasn't physically present). Although narration doesn't always stick to realism and is rather used as a tool in most cases, this is mostly the case for commercial thrillers and actioners, and not a web series. You would definitely feel like watching a film and not a series, as you can easily find out a rising conflict, an interval block, a falling action, and a climax, which is exactly the pattern commercial action films follow! The stretchy episodes towards the end of the series do not bore you (owing to great cast performances and a soaring drama), but you do not really feel the purpose of the stretching either. And talking about our protagonist Jeet, he doesn't face any obstacle, vulnerability or challenge in doing his job. Things just automatically fall into the right place when he's around and this kind of robs off a certain part of entertainment from the series. There is also this language related tonal shift that I felt to be quite absurd. This series is based in Bengal and is made for the worldwide audience. Sounds cool, but what about the execution? Remember the 2020 Chris Hemsworth Netflix actioner Extraction? That film had one of the nicest tri-lingual dialogue combinations. Here things are different as it seems like the makers did not pay much attention in addressing the bilingual nature of the show. Several dialogues are in Hindi, and the next moment, in Bengali, and that too without any justification or coordination. It felt so much like a joint effort from the makers to spoon-feed the audience rather than focusing on authenticity.
Conclusion
'Khakee The Bengal Chapter' is all about towering performances, crime world, politics, and most importantly, a 2002's Kolkata. Several twists and turns grip you till the end and Neeraj Pandey's trademark psychic-exploration is used to cover up the lack of sub-plots (works nicely by the way). While you get quite a few reality checks about how society is controlled by the influential people, the absolute Paatal Lok-ish core realism seems to be missing. I'm not comparing the two as both are good at their own verticals, it's just that what Paatal Lok was able to pull off looked ten on ten, Khakee is probably a seven on ten, and while this isn't bad at all, there's always some room of improvement. That being said, Neeraj Pandeys sequel to The Bihar Chapter is an entertaining show, that majorly relies on the able shoulders of it's cast to match up to it's predecessor. 'Tumhe maar rahe hain taaki logo ka police pe bharosa bana rahe' says Jeet to his fellow officer- pretty much sums up his stickler nature!
Watch Out For
- The cast performances
- The twists and turns
- Gore violence
WTF Rating
7/10