Khakee The Bengal Chapter review: Anurag Kashyap is right about Netflix India, it’s dull and devoid of ideas

Khakee The Bengal Chapter
Cast: Jeet, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Saswata Chatterjee, Chitrangada Singh
Showrunner: Neeraj Pandey
Platform: Netflix
Rating: 2/5

Anurag Kashyap made a valid point when he said Netflix India lacks imagination and courage to go beyond the obvious. Its new show Khakee The Bengal Chapter is no different as it harps on cliches and fails to add depth to a story done to death. Just changing the language from Mumbaiya Hindi to Bengali-laden Hindi couldn’t lift either the script or the sheen. 

In the early ‘90s, Kolkata was infested with crooks and their patron politicians. Bagha (Saswata Chatterjee) has risen above the baseline and controls the crime syndicate under Barun Roy’s (Prosenjit Chatterjee) thumb. The state is reeling under pressure from all sides and as a result, it decides to crack down on the most wanted ones. IPS Arjun Maitra (Jeet) has been tasked to manage the situation with guns and gore. Chitrangada Singh plays rival politician Nibedita Basak. 

There are some smaller, wannabe gangsters involved too, and their tracks have been given ample space, but nothing meets the hype the creators established before the show’s release. All the promises of getting inside the dark underbellies of Kolkata remain promises. Well no, they got into the bylanes but couldn’t go any further. There’s hardly any efforts of probing or doing RCA. Khakee The Bengal Chapter solely depends on performances and screen presence. Sometimes a particular actor shines, Prosenjit in most cases, and at other times, everybody looks clueless more than menacing. 

However, misplaced emotions aren’t the only worry Khakee The Bengal Chapter has. It is a rush-job, a desperate attempt to cash in on the success of Khakee The Bihar Chapter, which luckily had a reference book. Here, it is mostly based on hearsays and superficial research. But is it sensational enough to binge-watch? It depends on your appetite to take actors on their face value!

Khakee The Bengal Chapter is just another titillating show next in the line of Mirzapur, Khakee 1 and Bombay Meri Jaan. Nowhere close to leaving any impact.