Review: 'Khakee: The Bengal Chapter' is unapologetically dramatic but one hell of a ride

A Tale Of Cops, Criminals And Politics

From the get-go, the show attempts to weave a gritty, high-stakes drama with a sprawling narrative. But the first two episodes? Let’s just say they don’t exactly grip you by the throat. The story kicks off with sporadic kidnappings, random bloodshed, and shadowy figures making moves in the dark. It’s chaotic and fragmented, but patience is key. By the third episode, the pieces start clicking into place, and the real game begins.

At the center of it all is IPS Arjun Maitra (Jeet), a no-nonsense cop determined to dismantle the Kolkata underworld, brick by bloody brick. His biggest obstacle? The feared don Shankar Barua aka Bagha (Saswata Chatterjee), a ruthless overlord with a terrifying grip on the city. But crime isn’t just about gangsters with machetes, it’s about power, politics, and people in high places pulling the strings. Enter Barun Roy (Prosenjit Chatterjee), a smooth-talking, ice-cold politician who isn’t just playing the political game, he’s owning it.

The show soon spirals into a tangled mess of betrayals, law enforcement struggles, and a cat-and-mouse chase that gets bloodier with each passing episode. Bagha has his right and left-hand men, Sagor Talukdar (Ritwik Bhowmik) and Ranjit Thakur (Aadil Zafar Khan), both desperate to carve their own path in this empire of crime. But what happens when the very system designed to uphold justice is as rotten as the criminals it hunts?

The Essence of Bengal – A Cinematic Love Letter

While the storytelling doesn’t break new ground, the way it’s packaged makes all the difference. Bengal isn’t just a backdrop here, it’s a breathing, pulsating character. The cinematography lovingly captures Kolkata’s soul, the misty ghats, the bustling streets, the political rallies, the crumbling colonial buildings, and the simmering tension in every alley. And the dialect! The Bengali twang in the dialogues, the culture-rich references, it’s a world that feels authentic, even when the story veers into over-the-top Bollywood territory.

When The Stars Align

The powerhouse performances are what elevate Khakee: The Bengal Chapter from just another crime saga to a gripping, binge-worthy experience. Jeet, making his OTT debut, is a revelation. He embodies Arjun Maitra with a mix of suave charm and razor-sharp intensity. The man kicks, punches, and delivers punchlines with effortless ease, making him the kind of action hero Bollywood producers dream of.

But the real showstoppers? Aadil Zafar Khan and Ritwik Bhowmik. If you remember Ritwik as the sweet, soft-spoken boy from Bandish Bandits, forget all of that. Here, he’s slicing throats and crushing skulls as Sagor, a gangster with a violent streak and a complicated heart. Aadil, on the other hand, is pure madness as Ranjit, unhinged, unpredictable, and impossible to look away from.

Prosenjit Chatterjee as Barun Roy is pure menace. He’s not your stereotypical loud-mouthed politician; he’s calculating, composed, and terrifyingly powerful. There’s one scene where he slaps the Chief Minister that instantly establishes just how much weight he carries in the political corridors. A scene-stealer, through and through.

On the women’s front, Aakanksha Singh and Chitrangada Singh hold their own in a male-dominated narrative. Aakanksha has the stronger arc, bringing warmth and depth to the show, while Chitrangada, as the Leader of the Opposition, is all grace and steel. Their presence adds balance to the testosterone-driven chaos.

The Drama, The Action, The Tropes

Let’s talk about the dramatization. Because Khakee: The Bengal Chapter leans hard into it. At times, it’s cinematic brilliance; at others, it’s straight-up Bollywood masala. The intense BGM keeps your adrenaline pumping, the slow-motion fight sequences are well-choreographed, and the power-packed dialogues give you goosebumps. But the over-reliance on larger-than-life moments sometimes makes it feel too stylized, stripping away the raw, unfiltered grit it could have had.

And then there’s the storytelling, it almost breaks free from the shackles of predictability but gets pulled back in. It’s a familiar formula: a righteous cop, a cruel gangster, a corrupt politician, a betrayal, a mole within the system, a climactic showdown. Been there, seen that. But what makes it work is the sheer energy it brings to these elements.

The Climax

Now, for the climax. After all the bloodshed, power struggles, and moral dilemmas, does it deliver? Well, yes and no. The last two episodes pack some shocking twists, some of which truly catch you off guard. But there’s also a sense of could have been more. The build-up is thrilling, but the execution of the final act feels a tad underwhelming. It’s not bad, far from it, but given how the series hypes up the tension, you expect a blow-your-mind finale. Instead, it opts for a satisfactory yet safe conclusion.