A cop-drama without the steam. A political thriller minus the edge. A revenge-saga sans the bite. A story of friendship without the gleam. Co-writer and showrunner Neeraj Pandey’s Khakee: The Bengal Chapter, unfolds with zero surprises. It pushes sloppy twists to spark excitement; submits to violent outbursts for character development and mistakes basic, non-linear structure for eventful storytelling. The show has the emotional intelligence of a substandard Crime Patrol episode and a simplified run of a C.I.D case. Maybe it is not a coincidence that all three are on Netflix India; the streamer has been going through a transition lately.
The show doesn’t even take ahead the pointed focus which was there in the first part. Here, everything is ‘been there, seen that’. An honest cop (Parambrata Chatterjee) comes to rid Kolkata’s violence-infused streets of crime. However, it is just a step taken by the ruling party politicians to better their image for upcoming elections. The namesake chief minister acts on the orders of another cabinet minister, Barun (Prosenjit Chatterjee), who has his hands dirty. Barun has close links to dreaded gangster Bagha (Saswata Chatterjee), whose protegees Ranjit (Aadil Khan) and Sagor (Ritwik Bhowmik) have ambitions of taking over the empire. Soon, the honest cop is murdered. There’s a mole in the team and a new cop, our protagonist, Arjun Maitra (Jeet) takes command. Rest of the show is filled with touch and go moments— overlong chases, frantic shootouts and bloody betrayals that have become overly familiar in crime-dramas over the years.
It doesn’t even stay true in telling the story of Bengal, the state which has seen such significant political upheavals in the past decades. At first, it feels refreshing to hear the Bengali accent of the characters but then there’s nothing more which encompasses the complexity of the state. The politics is just reduced to ruling party leaders giving long speeches and the lone opposition leader, Nibedita Basak (Chitrangada Singh) questioning their every move. Looking at Chitrangada shouting slogans in a cotton sari does sprawl up the memory of her powerful presence in Sudhir Mishra’s seminal Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi (2003). But here, she has no stake in the story; her actions seldom affect other characters which makes it impossible to feel for her.
Even the friendship between Ranjit and Sagor takes a sudden violent turn which becomes difficult to digest. It is preceded by an interesting foreboding of rising insecurities and changing priorities which creates distance between the two. Yet, a decision to completely convert Ranjit into a dark, psychotic villain, hungry for blood, feels forced. Aadil plays the character with conviction and is best suited for the role, firmly carrying the manic energy in his actions. Ritwik stays sincere too, especially in portions where he embodies the innocence of Sagor. It is in his violent side where he appears to struggle. Jeet, playing the protagonist is among the weakest link of the show, as he feels to be remotely doing his scenes without a lot of emotional involvement. It is Prosenjit and Saswata, who remain the highlight, with their cold-blooded, menacing presence.
However, there’s only so much that the actors can do when there’s a lack of nuance in the writing. The tonal imbalance is felt right in the intro music, which feels more like a jingle in a tourism ad for the state. “Ek aur rang bhi dekhiye Bengal ka (Come to see another shade of Bengal)”, the lyrics say with a jolly mix of vocals and tune. It is at once in contrast with how the first season opened, with a more mysterious touch to the music. But then it was based on a true story, adapted from a book. It also came three years ago, in the quiet aftermath of the pandemic, when streaming still had room for surprise, when storytelling was yet to conform to the rhythm of an algorithm. There was still a scant sense of originality left. Cut to 2025, where sameness reigns, edges dull, and risks fade. The transition phase seems to be stretching into permanence.
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