Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Cast/ Actors: Jeet as IPS Arjun Maitra, Prosenjit Chatterjee as Barun Roy, a politician, Chitrangada Singh as Nibedita Basak, the Leader of Opposition of West Bengal, Ritwik Bhowmik as Sagor Talukdar, Aadil Zafar Khan as Ranjit Thakur, Parambrata Chatterjee as DCP, Saswata Chatterjee as Shankar Barua a.k.a. Bagha, Mahaakshay chakraborty as Himel, Aakanksha Singh as Aratrika, Subhasish Mukherjee as Chief Minister of West Bengal & others.
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Creater: Neeraj Pandey
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Director: Debatma Mandal & Tushar Kanti Ray
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Release Date: March 20, 2025
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Available On: Netflix India
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Released/ Available In Languages: Hindi & Bengali
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Number Of Episodes: 7
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Episode Duration: 45 minutes (Approx Each Episode But Pilot Episode Length: 62 minutes))
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Critic Review:
Show creator Neeraj Pandey shifts the men (and one token woman) in khaki across the state border to plonk them among the gangsters and politicians of West Bengal. Netas and criminals go hand in hand whichever state they may be in.
It takes off with police officers Aartrika (Aakanksha Singh) and Himel (Mimoh Chakraborty) meeting with an accident. They’ve been hit. There’s a mole in their team.
CM Shirshendu Chatterjee (Subhasish Mukherjee) and suave, wily party heavyweight Barun (Prosenjit Chatterjee) would like to continue with pliable police officers and have their secret alliances with gangsters like Shankar Bagha (Saswata Chatterjee).
But opposition leader Nibedita Basak (Chitrangada Singh) is screaming her lungs out about the destruction of Bengal by the ruling party and its criminal buddies. “The City of Joy has turned into a City of Bhoy (fear)”.
“We need an officer with a clean record,” decides the high command.
IPS Saptarshi Sinha (Parambrata Chattopadhyay in a special appearance) is brought in to head an SIT and clean up the system. Bagha must be eliminated.
Most times, gangsters and politicians do a tiresome tango.
What saves the Khakee series is the pleasant change of location to Calcutta’s lush garden clubs, a golf course, ships and boats, neat top shots, characters different from the Bihar-UP gangsters that overrun the OTT screens, and sequences that at least strive to be different. eg. An unexpected slap for Shirshendu from Barunda when they “talk” privately, indicating the hold the businessman-politician has over the CM. In the bargain, a hint of humour too, as the CM avoids a suggestion for another private moment.
Brought in through another flashback is Shankar Bagha’s rise to don-dom where he won’t blink an eye before cutting throats and stomachs with knives or bashing heads with a chair.
Interesting are two right-hand men. Cold, level-headed killer Sagor Talukdar (Ritwik Bhowmik, last seen in Bandish Bandits) who took a bullet for Bagha, and his easily provoked buddy Ranjit (Adil Zafar Khan with a loose-limbed Sanjay Dutt swagger). A kidnap gone wrong introduces Sagor-Ranjit’s unique operational skills – the culprits are hung upside down with a football aimed at their heads. Violent but at least different.
Without explanation is another offbeat character. Bagha’s son Cheena (Tenzin Bodh) from China Town who’s pushed around by cops and gangsters, even dismissed as “Manchurian”.
A funeral scene has its touches of believability. Not everyone is a genuine mourner. Some titter over Bagha weeping so copiously for an aged mother, common at most funerals.
“Work before cremate” as a work ethic for gangsters, is pencilled in by writers Samrat Chakraborty, Neeraj Pandey and Debatma Mandal.
The Opposition, led by Nibedita, reaching a pregnant widow’s side and politicising her tragedy, has its credibility.
The arrival of IPS Arjun Maitra (Jeet) as replacement for Saptarshi Sinha has a few good moments. A bullet-ridden door, a plot to break the gang by attacking their spine, and soon it’s killer vs killer which is a winner for the SIT.
Inter-departmental favours (Arjun’s phone-tapping list that an ex cribs about but helps him with), a girlfriend for Arjun, a companion in a coma for Nibedita, and a pregnant wife for Saptarshi, give personal strokes to a politics and crime drama.
There is an attempt to be different. Inspired by an Amitabh Bachchan film, a gangster makes a video confessing his criminal career. Politicians who seem sincere but are ready to turn and a cop with integrity having to choose the lesser evil.
But there are unnecessary moments too. Like a long monologue before thugs close in on their high-profile victim. And in the melee to find the mole, end Bagha’s rule and topple the government, we don’t quite know what the pregnant Mrs Sinha finally delivered.
But it is a well-told, well-shot and well-performed show, the change in ambience quite welcome.
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter – Watch Or Not?: Certainly not a family watch, those who like thugs and killings will get their thrills.
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Review Score Rating: 3 out of 5 (i.e. 3/5)
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Official Trailer:
Khakee:The Bengal Chapter Official Trailer (Credits: Netflix India)
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