A magpie is a noisy bird attracted to shiny objects – or, in police parlance, a prison informer who spies on his cellmates. The Israeli thriller Magpie, adapted into the Hindi series Kankhajura, is about one such man. (There is no equivalent in India, where a thrashing gets a confession most of the time.)
Ashu (Roshan Mathew ) is innocent and meek in appearance, but his handler describes him as “dangerous”. Convicted for murder, Ashu comes out of jail earlier than expected due to his informing gigs for inspector Leena (Heeba Shah). Ashu goes to live with his brother Max (Mohit Raina), Max’s wife Naina (Sara Jane Dias) and daughter Ira (Kurangi Vijayshree Nagraj).
In the 14 years that Ashu spent behind bars, Max has become a real estate tycoon. He’s on the verge of starting a major project, provided he can get the existing residents to leave. Max is having trouble with the female slumlord of the area he wants for his project – Deshmukh (a perfectly cast Usha Nadkarni), her sons (Sachin Ashok Shinde, Sarur Gaikwad) and a disgruntled nephew (Pratap Madhavrao Phad).
Max’s aides Pedro (Ninad Kamat) and Shardul (Mahesh Shetty) are unable to help find a way out. Max’s politician uncle (Anant Jog) is breathing down his neck.
Under the guise of helping Max, Ashu quietly starts digging into his business. Ashu looks harmless, but has the gift of manipulating people’s emotions so insidiously that they never know what hits them. Ashu also reconnects with an old friend, Amy (Trinetra Haldar).
Directed by Chandan Arora, who has also adapted the Sony LIV series with Sandeep Jain, Kankhajura portrays Ashu in a way that he is pathetic in one moment and devious in the next. Like the characters who are constantly caught off guard by Ashu’s wiliness, the audience does not know whether to sympathise with his past trauma or be gobsmacked by his next-level cunning.
Ashu is a bit reminiscent of the part Shah Rukh Khan played in Baazigar. Roshan Mathew correctly tempers Ashu’s evil with a vulnerability that would have been touching if the consequences of his actions had been less destructive. Mohit Raina starts with a stylish confidence that turns to bafflement and then desperation, and he carries off the role well.
The original series had a second season. Kankhajura creates the scope to see where Ashu goes next. He appears to hold the winning cards, but there are also new obstacles on the way.
Also read:
‘There are no rules’: Roshan Mathew on playing a dangerous man in ‘Kankhajura’
