Nikhoj review: Swastika Mukherjee and Tota Roychowdhury’s thriller is gripping yet incomplete

3/5

Story: Diti – daughter of ace police officer Brinda Basu (Swastika Mukherjee), DCP Lalbazar, goes missing. Rohit Sen (Tota Roy Chowdhury) – an ace news anchor is found blood-drenched and drugged in his blood-smeared car right in the middle of the road. He gets arrested. Upon questioning, Brinda and her team get to know that Diti and Rohit, along with others, were in partying the previous night. Cops start questioning other suspects. Meanwhile, Rohit Sen’s rival news channel starts a smear campaign against Rohit. This leaves Rohit’s wife, Gargi (Koneenica Banerjee), and their children shocked and devastated. 

Review: Nikhoj burns slowly and steadily with multiple flickers that light up the tight thriller. Until now, it is well written and riveting. And then it ends without even a minor direction toward the resolution of the plot. In its first six episodes, it seems to be a mature web series that ends abruptly.  

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First, the series is written with care. Ayan Chakraborti mounts the suspense exactly how a good show should and it has also started to give the characters a proper arc. While it is extremely rare to see a police officer investigating cases related to their kin, we set the idea of ‘conflict of interest’ aside and appreciate the build-up. Brinda’s fiery verbal duel with Bikash Samanta (Loknath Dey) adds to the drama. Overall, sharp dialogues lead the episodes and despite being a slow burner, it manages to grip the audience. 

However, Nikhoj falters here and there. Barring the last episode, Brinda Basu seems to be more of a police officer than a mother. Rohit Sen seems to be more of a droid than a human being in the investigation chamber and his character remains under the wrap even by the end. Most importantly, the content of the first part is inadequate. It does not give us any lead to hold on to. 

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It is also dotted with a super performance by the team. Swastika plays the character impeccably. Brinda orders her subordinate and when she breaks down in tears and then gets back to work – Swastika becomes Brinda in portraying every detail of her emotion. And finally, she captures the dilemma in the last scene in the mortuary. Saoli Chattopadhyay gives her perfect company from the first scene. 

While Tota Roy Chowdhury’s character is under-explored, the actor delivers a solid performance. However, there is more to be discovered in the character in the second part. While Loknath Dey impresses as Samanta, he, as an actor, is getting trapped in typical characters of layered police officers. His calibre as an actor will not be cherished by the audience unless he leaves the police uniform aside and takes other roles. 

Verdict: The first part of Nikhoj is a promising introduction to a mature and tight thriller. It starts well but since it is incomplete, it is not possible to give a final verdict. We can only hope the wait for the final verdict will not be too long.