Srijit Mukherji’s Tekka sets out to be a nerve-wracking hostage thriller, anchored by a nuanced performance from Tollywood star Dev in a de-glam avatar. In a film that combines personal struggles of its characters with larger societal nuggets, Mukherji manages to balance intricate character arcs with impactful political critique through its twists and turns.

Chatter about Mad City – a 1997 film starring John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman – is inevitable, because the basic premise is similar to Tekka – a man who loses his job takes people hostage in a desperate bid to reclaim his right to life and livelihood.

At the heart of Tekka is Iqlakh (Dev), an ordinary man grappling with extraordinary desperation. Recently laid off and struggling to make ends meet, he kidnaps a young girl to draw public attention to his plight. Iqlakh’s demand? He wants his job back. But he’ll take only a word from the company’s owner as confirmation. What starts as a mere cry for help quickly spirals into a complex web of negotiations, hostage swaps, and power struggles.

But Tekka isn’t satisfied with just one hostage story; it weaves a parallel narrative when Ira (Swastika Mukherjee), the kidnapped girl’s mother, takes Iqlakh’s young son hostage!

Representing the long arm of the law is Maya (Rukmini Maitra), who is in charge of the negotiations and in fine form on screen.

And then there’s the media. Brishti (Sreeja Dutta) is a young reporter desperate to impress her boss (Sujan Mukherjee). By a stroke of luck, she is trapped in the same office where Iqlakh is holding the girl hostage. (In Mad City, Dustin Hoffman is the TV journalist who just happens to be in the museum and gets embroiled in the hostage drama triggered by John Travolta’s character.) Together with her cameraperson Tintin (Aryann Bhowmik), she live-streams every detail of the unfolding hostage situation, until her conscience gets the better of her. Unwittingly, Brishti and Tintin become entwined with Iqlakh’s plan.

Dev’s portrayal of Iqlakh is a revelation. Known for his action-hero roles, he delivers perhaps the finest performance of his career. As Iqlakh, he is every disenfranchised man pushed to the edge – hurting and despairing yet clutching on to hope.

Swastika Mukherjee as Ira, the distraught mother, is quite a highlight of Tekka. Her anguish visceral, Swastika skillfully portrays the complexity of her feelings — an overwhelming fear for her child and her empathy for Iqlakh’s plight.

Rukmini Maitra’s Maya as the tough yet compassionate cop navigates the high-stakes hostage situation, while dealing with her own vulnerabilities: she is undergoing IVF treatment, juggling her personal dreams of motherhood with the demands of her high-stress job.

Srijit, known for his sharp screenplay and dialogues, keeps the audience guessing, as secrets tumble out and alliances shift, culminating in a final twist in the tale.

Tekka doesn’t shy away from examining social issues, highlighting the widening class divide, political corruption, and communal undertones that mark India today. Paran Bandyopadhyay’s cameo as a corrupt industrialist planning a political career captures some of the deep-seated rot in a system that is tilted wholly towards the ‘haves’.

Cinematographer Modhura Palit’s gritty urban landscape adds a hauntingly bleak aesthetic and Diptarka Bose’s background score blends in easily.