Dwitiyo Purush - A juvenile criminal Khoka aspires to reign among the notorious in the underbelly of Chinatown in Kolkata. He and his gang of goons believe in graphic violence and will stop at nothing. Khoka commits three murders in his signature style, of a rival gang leader, a police informant and a fearless police officer, before being intelligently trapped and arrested by Kolkata Police.
Cut to 25 years since then. Khoka (Anirban Bhattacharya) returns to Chinatown after serving his jail sentence to rebuild his empire all over again, and begins by committing murders in the same pattern. So is he a serial killer and what's his motive for the repetition? Abhijit Pakrashi (Parambrata) is the investigating officer who is still haunted by the nightmares from the poet murderer case (flashback to Srijit Mukherjee's epic 22she Sraban), who starts putting the jigsaw of clues together. He also has a battle on the homefront where his marriage is on the rocks! What score does Khoka have to settle with Abhijit?
It's a brilliant story written by veteran Mani Shankar Mukherjee (Chowringhee, Seemabaddha.....) that holds up the suspense until the very last frame and you cannot not marvel at the mystery with the case. The execution is somewhat patchy, especially the editing and the super graphic violence with the murders which could well have been avoided. Director Srijit Mukherjee connects to 22she Sraban on several occasions, but Dwitiyo Purush certainly isn't its sequel. Anirban puts up a fantastic performance in the climax sequence, but comes across as trying too hard to be a hardcore criminal mouthing his dialogues mostly. Parambrata is measured and expressive. Gaurav Chakraborty is passable as his assistant, but Raima Sen is largely wasted. The climax and the revelation of the motive are cleverly crafted and worth the wait.
Cut to 25 years since then. Khoka (Anirban Bhattacharya) returns to Chinatown after serving his jail sentence to rebuild his empire all over again, and begins by committing murders in the same pattern. So is he a serial killer and what's his motive for the repetition? Abhijit Pakrashi (Parambrata) is the investigating officer who is still haunted by the nightmares from the poet murderer case (flashback to Srijit Mukherjee's epic 22she Sraban), who starts putting the jigsaw of clues together. He also has a battle on the homefront where his marriage is on the rocks! What score does Khoka have to settle with Abhijit?
It's a brilliant story written by veteran Mani Shankar Mukherjee (Chowringhee, Seemabaddha.....) that holds up the suspense until the very last frame and you cannot not marvel at the mystery with the case. The execution is somewhat patchy, especially the editing and the super graphic violence with the murders which could well have been avoided. Director Srijit Mukherjee connects to 22she Sraban on several occasions, but Dwitiyo Purush certainly isn't its sequel. Anirban puts up a fantastic performance in the climax sequence, but comes across as trying too hard to be a hardcore criminal mouthing his dialogues mostly. Parambrata is measured and expressive. Gaurav Chakraborty is passable as his assistant, but Raima Sen is largely wasted. The climax and the revelation of the motive are cleverly crafted and worth the wait.