Director Srijit Mukherji is back for the third time this year and unlike his previous releases, Tekka lies in his core zone of filmmaking. Starring Dev, Rukmini Maitra, Swastika Mukherjee and Paran Bandopadhyay in the lead roles, the film also stars Aryan Bhowmik, Tota Roy Chowdhury and Kamaleswar Mukherjee in supporting roles.
Basic Plot- Iqlakh Alam (Dev), the sweeper of a corporate office in Salt Lake Kolkata, gets fired from his job and seeks revenge by creating a hostage situation.
Positives
Performances
Strong performances really lend this film a generous amount of push which helps it to sail (if not cruise) through a basic plot which is as common as it gets. It's nice to see Dev picking up roles like this which could be easily turned down by stars of his stature. He gives the character Iqlakh Alam a sense of vulnerability which also helps the character arc towards the end of the film. Rukmini Maitra as ACP Maya Khastogir is convincing and successfully pulls off her role. It's just that her character designing feels kinda similar to Neha Dhupia's character in the film 'A Thursday' but hey, that's not something to criticize the writing department for. Swastika Mukherjee does well as the kidnapped child's single mother and so does Paran Bandopadhyay who actually pulls off a poorly written role in a splendid way. The supporting cast does well too and it's the overall performances in the film which save this film to a great extent.
Production Design, Music and Dialogues
The overall production design and colour grading feels rich and fresh. There are some goofs in the vfx though, but it isn't a deal breaker. The film has been shot quite well but I personally felt that camera work could've been better at places especially to complement the limited thrills that this film has. The dialogues however have been terrific. Srijit Mukherjee's film always have great dialogues and Tekka is no exception. From punchlines to Christopher Nolan-esque thought provoking messages, Tekka has it all tweaked according to it's own context. The music is another plus point of this film with two beautiful songs and a nice bgm as well. The placement of the songs are fine but the bgm could've been used in a better way considering it's nice and gritty feel.
Direction (partial)
The direction is a hit and a miss. It's the current socio-political scenario of West Bengal that has been nicely shown in the film and not just that, the scenario blends into the screenplay pretty smoothly as well. Several POVs regarding social classes have been raised and answered in the most unbiased way possible which truly deserves appreciation. Also, the overall presentation of each of the characters and their own sub plots have been nice. The way the sub plots combine and contribute to the bigger picture is quite organic as the sub plots provide ample space for several breathers in the film in the form of situational comedy as well as drama. The film is also quite modern in nature showing how the volatile youth easily gets motivated by whatever they see on social media and depend only on the social media when it comes to sharing an opinion.
Underwhelming aspects
Screenplay
As maximum of the hostage thrillers deal with a single situation they generally unfold in a place or two, which makes most of the hostage thrillers drag in the second half. That's exactly what has happened with Tekka as well. The second half, although only of 65 minutes, feels quite long and the scenes seem to have a lack of urgency. Also, the film lacks thrill. The thrills are very ordinary considering the type of content majority of the audience is exposed to and thus those scenes do not feel very special or happening. The stakes in the thrill portions are just not high enough to captivate the public who've come to see a Srijit Mukherji Pujo release. The expectations further fall short when you see the director's Pujo release track record.
Direction (partial) and last minute dependency
While the direction has hit quite a few targets, it's the important ones that the direction missed. The film just doesn't feel special apart from the on paper 'Dev-Srijit' collaboration. The reason I called it Srijit Mukerji's Shutter Island lies in the last twenty minutes of the film, exactly like the case was for the 2010 Scorsese film. The main difference between the two films is that the Leo DiCaprio starrer was captivating right from the beginning and Tekka only relies on it's last twenty minutes of runtime. Apart from the shocking final act (which isn't as shocking if you're exposed to a lot of international content) the film isn't worth a rewatch courtesy a 'not so progressive' screenplay. Also, the last twenty minutes of the film is so much out of syllabus that many might find it too bonkers to handle and may even be detrimental due to some people citing a sudden tonal shift in the film. Even some disparate hints or 'something is cooking' kinda elements earlier in the screenplay would've helped the audience brace for the bumpy impact. Also, the entire subplot regarding Swastika Mukherji's character kidnapping Iqlakh's son could've been edited out of the trailer to give the audience something new to relish in the theatres apart from the climax. This basic yet important aspect could have provided this film a bit of dynamism.
Conclusion
You know that the entire setup of a film is going to go for a toss in the last twenty minutes if Srijit Mukherji is behind the camera. That's exactly what happens in Tekka and it's also the same reason why the film failed to entirely live up to it's hype. The audience is served only what was expected from a Srijit Mukherji film and nothing more. The ending twist is common in all Srijit films and one longed for more than that, which was sadly never served. Even a common hostage thriller plot can be so well executed with several stakes rocketing up but none of that happens here. Instead, after standing on the taxiway almost all it's runtime, the film suddenly takes off, roughly lands and ends before anyone's able to completely digest the climax. All these things when combined together make a film nothing more than a one time watch, and Tekka is just that.
Watch out For
The climax and a superb show stealer of a performance by Paran Bandopadhyay based on a poorly written character.
WTF Recommendation
6.5/10
