Khakee The Bihar Chapter review: Solid performances elevate a familiar narrative

The fourth episode of Netflix’s Khakee: The Bihar Chapter ends in a stand-off. Not one punctuated by guns necessarily, but one underlined by sentiment. The outsider, a man on the right side of the law is warned by the antagonist. “Ye Pradesh humara hai,”this man says, bullishly overlooking a puzzled, but defiant adversary from a higher vantage point. It’s a neatly choreographed scene, tailored well to the tone of a series that is much more than just trigger-happy machoism. Neeraj Pandey’s Khakee: The Bihar Chapter, for that matter, is built on familiar foundational material but soars on account of some truly terrific performances by a mouth-watering assembly of proven actors.

Set at the turn of the century, the story begins in Sheikhpura, where the near arrest of wanted goon Chandan Mahto is thwarted by a crony political intervention. Straightaway, the series lays down Bihar’s law of the land. There is no such thing as a criminal in this landscape, only dependable and dispensable men. Chandan, played by a rugged, broody Tiwary is a lower-caste truck driver fascinated by the world of big crime. Pushed into a corner he retaliates and realises the true value of power. His ‘ascent’ into a life of crime is mirrored by that of IPS Amit Lodha, an outsider who has arrived in Bihar with the naïve aim of ‘cleaning’ it. Played by Karan Thacker, Lodha is a part-determined, part-deluded police officer who sees things through the prism of black and white.

There are some excellent supporting actors in this series which adds to the twisty mulch of the bad and worse sides of Bihar. Ashutosh Rana is deliciously wicked as a senior police officer who reads caste and opportunity with equal vigour. Here he echoes the crooked system that has been manipulated within an inch of implosion. Morality is the first victim in this land of whimsy and opportunity, it seems. A scene where Rana’s character berates Lodha for not having disclosed his caste is tellingly symptomatic of what has maligned a state many have for long considered beyond saving. Vinay Pathak, Ravi Kishan, AnupSoni and Abhimanyu Singh are just some of the other names who make for a glittering cast, seamlessly punching above the weight of a modest script.

The headline act of the show, however, is Tiwary, easily the most interesting but also underexplored character of the show. Mahto’s rise is a cautionary tale of the victim biting back after having been robbed of his humanity, but it is also a story that isn’t fleshed to a point of comprehension. Chandan has been extracted from the many hot-headed hinterland criminals we have seen before onscreen, but is done so without a sprinkling of nuance. Caste and politics are extrapolated but just what makes him tick beyond the status quo is never really unpeeled.

The same could be said of Lodha, a man out of touch with ground realities trying to mould it to his will. Thacker is charming and memorable, but he is also irredeemably plain and straight-faced. A flashback where he explains to an interviewing panel just why he chose the IPS over the cushier and relatively convenient IAS, is all pomp and little substance. It paints a rhetorical portrait of a man who is as flawless as he seems incapable of succumbing to emotional duress. More could have been done with both these characters.

That said, both Tacker and Tiwary bring their best. The latter is in particularly exciting form in a career that is crying out to be noticed (he was excellent in the under-watched Laila Majnu). The only problem with the series is that it doesn’t always help its incredible cast hold down the fort. These actors can work with silences but there is an inclination here to talk over moments, confound tense situations with the overbearing sound of cheerful, pulpy music. You get the feeling at times, that despite being far more restrained in its mechanics, there is a Mirzapur hangover here that can instantly return a series that could have used an injection of lean realism to the loud, musical territory of a comic strip. It simply makes the predictable far too blunt for impact.

Khakee The Bihar Chapter is a good example of why streaming is ripe for certain stories. This is a well-structured show, that goes beyond the pyrotechnics of a cat and mouse game. It also attempts, at times, to decode for us the landscape it is set in. The only problem is that while it boasts of a spectacular cast and equally adept performances it doesn’t quite have the conviction to stray away from bombastic formula and search for something deeper to say. Nonetheless, it is watchable, at least for the sensational performances, if nothing else.

Manik Sharma writes on art and culture, cinema, books, and everything in between.

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