Rustic Revenge Drama With Mass Appeal
Background
After success of Bhaukaal and Ek Thi Begum which are inspired by true incidents, MXPlayer has ventured into another web series Raktanchal on same lines. This time it’s different kind of revenge story between two rival gangs which got crystallised into a dirty war that went on to send shock waves throughout Purvanchal turning it into Raktanchal with attacks on each other’s illegal businesses and families along with politicians playing equal part in raging the fire between the two to protect their self-interests.
Raktanchal, an MX Original Series is streaming now in three languages, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil on MXPlayer
Storyline
Way back in 1986 in Benares, the story opens at Excise Department with Vijay Singh (Kranti Prakash Jha) striking to make his presence felt to his rival gang leader Waseem Khan (Nikiten Dheer) during bidding for a liquor tender. This marks the severing of hostilities between members of two gangs who scour for each other’s blood.
The roots of this hostility between Vijay Singh and Waseem Khan dates back two years earlier in 1984. Vijay Singh’s father gets killed in front of him as a result of an alteration with one of Waseem Khan’s henchmen who happens to be the contractor working for him.
Vijay who could not digest his father’s brutal killing in front his eyes vows to take revenge along with his uncle Bechan (Chitranjan Tripathi) nephew Chunnu (Basu Soni) and a common enemy Tripurari (Pramod Pathak) who befriends Vijay during his jail term.
The town of Ghazipur start witnessing one of the dirtiest wars fuelled by two gangs who seek revenge and take control of all businesses including coal and liquor with active support of politicians who use Vijay and Waseem to terrify the people to stay in power.
The final confrontation between Vijay and Waseem which is a faceoff between the two ends in a climax riddled with bodies and bullets with an inconclusive ending unveiling the prospect of another season in the wings.
Artiste(s) Performances
Kranti Prakash Jha and Nikiten Dheer get more screen space and both have done fairly well in roles of rival gang leaders who fight it out for supremacy. Nikiten Dheer is more composed and exhibits considerable ease in his performance aided by his conspicuous physical appearance which is his major asset. In comparison, Kranti Prakash Jha is a letdown as far as physical appearance and performances are concerned which fall short of expectations.
Especially the expressions he carries throughout the series are monotonous without any newness and the way he delivered the powerful climax scene dialogues fall flat without making any impact whatsoever. Other than two lead actors, the performances of Basu Soni and Pramod Pathak are extraordinary with an excellent portrayal of a complicated character of Sanki by Vikram Kochhar who as a killer contractor, trusted aide and betrayed lover has done extremely well.
Krishna Bisht as Katta, the sharp shooter and Ronjini Chakraborty as Seema, the bait to lure Sanki have also done well in their respective roles.
Technical aspects
Though one gets a feeling that the story which is getting unfolded before the eyes was seen several times earlier, the writer Sarvesh Upadhyay and director Ritam Srivastav has succeeded in sustaining the interest among audience with some crisp storytelling and lag less direction.
The background score by Mannan Munjal has helped a lot in maintaining the pace of Raktanchal and sharp editing by Faisal Mahadik and Imran Mahadik is another plus point to keep this show as a finely honed package.
The cinematography of Vijay Mishra has successfully captured the rustic locales of Purvanchal and he has brought the life and mood of 1980s in full flow onto the screen effectively.
Our honest feeling
Raktanchal is purely an action oriented crime drama and the presence of two item songs stand as testimony to make Raktanchal a truly massy and juicy web series with lot of masala and turbulent action.
The different kind of treatment given to the oft repeated story makes it watchable and all the action lovers are definitely going to love this.
