Tekka review: Rukmini Maitra and Dev shine in this hostage drama

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Tekka story:

The film’s story is pretty much what you have seen in the trailer. For those who are uninitiated, here is the plot in brief. Iqlakh (Dev) loses his job, randomly kidnaps a young girl Avantika (Aameya) from her school, and takes her hostage. He demands to get his job back. Maya (Rukmini Maitra) from Kolkata Police comes to negotiate. Even after his company's maintenance manager (Anirban Bhattacharya) verbally promises to give his job back to him, he demands the owner of the firm Anubrata Adhikari (Paran Bandyopadhyay) to come personally. Meanwhile, in a turn of events, little Aratrika’s mother Ira (Swastika Mukherjee) hunts down Iqlakh’s house and takes hostage of his little boy.

Tekka review:

After watching the film, one wonders about the logic behind the title. If, according to the film's creators, Tekka -- or the ace of a deck -- denotes the twist in the plot, then there is a problem. This doesn’t look like a well-played hand.

Tekka has thrills and frills. It starts with a John Q-esque humane story of a hostage drama. By the end of the film, it also surprises the audience with unexpected twists and turns. What it lacks though, is a cohesive structure and persuasive storyline. Dev, Rukmini Maitra, and Swastika Mukherjee have put their best foot forward but even they are unable to salvage the sloppy execution of the plot.

The film opens with a fascinating collage of the new-age office para of Kolkata with Kabir Suman’s iconic song Theme Jete Jete. DOP Madhura Palit has presented some breathtaking shots. At the outset, the film takes you to the actual plot through a halfhearted chase sequence. Dev kidnaps the girl and runs a really long way. Even after the ‘amateurish’ kidnap, the constant and free movements of the cops and the trust-building exercise seem a little far-fetched.

Amidst all this, Rukmini subtly takes control of Tekka and becomes the high point of the film. Dev has his stardom and Tekka banks heavily on his presence. In fact, he makes the viewers root for Iqlakh even in impossible circumstances. On the other hand, Swastika Mukherjee is known to be a great actress. Here too she portrays her character Ira remarkably well. Rukmini, meanwhile, is the real surprise in the film. She is absolutely stunning in her understated performance as Maya. She doesn’t go overboard with emotion or her glamour. Instead, throughout the film, she spreads her subtility evenly. One can watch Tekka just to rediscover Rukmini Maitra.

Srijit gets the dialogue department right, like always. The conversations are engaging with the humour and expletives perfectly timed and well-received by the audience. Like always, the director also gets the music right and Tekka is no exception. The songs are good. The background score does not overwhelm the visuals that are presented.

Tekka is billed as a hostage drama. It needed a little more care in its storytelling. The film targets the rot system but puts very little effort into presenting that decadence. Several characters, including the cop played by Loknath Dey, make appearances and then vanish in thin air. After a point, the plot seems to go haywire. That is why by the time the twist comes, one seems to lose interest. Tota Roy Chowdhury and Kaushik Sen literally offer pointless guest appearances. The latter’s character still sets some kind of resolution to the film. But Tota’s character could have been played by any other actor.