Ankush Hazra plays a gangster who follows his own rules among a pack of dark characters in Kolkata’s underbelly in the teaser of Mirza, dropped by actor-producer Dev on Wednesday.

“Bhai chobi teaser. In one word, it’s Brilliant ,” Dev captioned his post on social media. Ankush shared Dev’s tweet and wrote, “Love you bro … thank you for the immense support .”

The two-minute-long teaser, dropped on the occasion of Ankush’s 35th birthday, offers a sneak peek into the various characters of the upcoming action thriller helmed by Sumeet Saahil.

The video opens with a voice-over by Ankush’s character who introduces the viewers to the murky trades of Kolkata’s underworld, comparing it to a deck of cards. One by one the stakeholders in this illicit business of drug smuggling are introduced. First off, it’s Kaustav Sen (Rishi Kaushik) who is introduced as ‘Ghulam’. Next, we get a glimpse of Oindrila Sen’s character Muskan, who is hailed as the ‘Queen’ of the pack of cards.

Shoaib Kabeer takes on the mantle of Azhar, the ‘Badshah’ of the drug trade, while Kaushik Ganguly plays ‘Sultan’ — the commanding authority aka the ‘Ace’ in the game of cards.

Ankush appears in the teaser next, introduced as a wild card who does not follow any rules. Instead, he likes to play by his own rules, the narrator says. What follows is a series of action set pieces where Ankush displays a distinctive rugged appearance with kohl-laden eyes, hinting at a character that is far from ordinary.

The action-thriller marks a milestone in Ankush’s career as it marks his debut as a producer. Mirza is slated to be a multi-part film franchise with its first part, titled Joker, scheduled to hit theatres during Eid 2024.

Ishan Mitra and Aneek Dhar have composed the music for the film, while the screenplay and dialogues have been written by Arnab Bhaumik.