Stepping away from the trend of mystery thrillers and chamber dramas in contemporary Bengali cinema, Dev — who is the main lead as well as the co-producer and creative director of Khadaan — has dipped his toes in the genre of testosterone-driven massy entertainers of the South film industries.
Khadaan borrows a lot of those elements: a grimy setting of working-class people; a story of friendship, deception and revenge; a saviour-figure whose fury fuels the plotline; sharp action set pieces and earthy song-and-dance routines.
Directed by Soojit Rino Dutta, the story unfolds in the coal mines of the Damodar Valley region sometime in the 1990s. Dev plays Shyam Mahato, a coal smuggler-turned-Robin Hood-like hero of the miners who is friends with Mohan Das (Jisshu Sengupta), a refugee from Bangladesh. Shyam’s brawn and Mohan’s brain make a deadly combo. They are the uncrowned king of the ‘khadaan’ (mines) and their meteoric rise catches the eye of local politician Siddqui (Sujan Neel Mukherjee), who makes them the joint head of the coal syndicate.
And then comes the twist. Shyam is thrown behind bars after an accident where he kills a cop, and is found dead in his cell soon after. Fast forward to the present day. Shyam’s son Madhu (also played by Dev) works as a coal transporter, while Mohan is now the sole owner of the coal mines. Mohan coaxes Madhu into joining him, which doesn’t go well with Mohan’s son Makhan (John Bhattacharya) who had hoped to inherit his father’s business. As Madhu slowly becomes Mohan’s most trusted lieutenant, the truth behind Shyam’s death emerges, pushing Madhu on the path of revenge.
Dev wears the rugged look well, the unkempt hair, the half-unbuttoned shirt and the bidi pressed between his lips giving the effect of a man of the soil. He also delivers on the acting front, bringing in the intensity of a working-class hero shaped by adversity who now demands his due. In the second half, he softens down to play the lover boy — the Kishori song-and-dance with Idhika Paul’s Latika is already topping the charts — but switches to his ‘angry young man’ avatar when the stories of betrayal and back-stabbing come forth.
Jisshu as the cool-headed and strategic Mohan Das is the perfect foil for Shyam’s fiery temperament. The synergy between Shyam and Mohan anchors the film and helps this otherwise straightforward story sail through.
The supporting cast offers mixed performances. Anirban Chakrabarti excels as Mandi, a tribal leader and Shyam’s man-Friday. John Bhattacharya as Shyam’s rival doesn’t have that awe factor. Barkha Bisht as Shyam’s wife Jamuna and Idhika Paul’s Latika add little value to the story.
What works in favour of Khadaan is the soundtrack. Apart from Rathijit Bhattacharjee-composed Kishori or Nilayan Chatterjee’s composition Baap Eseche and Rajar Raja composed by Savvy, the one song that stands out for its picturisation is the kirtan Radharani, providing the backdrop for an intense action sequence.