Karagar is a Bengali mystery-thriller TV series directed by Syed Ahmed Shawki and stars Chanchal Chowdhury, Intekhab Dinar, Tasnia Fareen, FS Nayeem and Afzal Hossain, alongside other cast members. The series has 7 episodes, each with a runtime of around 30 minutes.
Hoichoi describes the series as:
A prisoner appears in Akashnagar Central Jail’s Cell No.145, which has been shut for 50 years, and claims immortality. Who is this mystery man, and what secrets does he hold inside him?
– Karagar Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
Hoichoi’s Karagar starts on a rather usual note – corruption within the prison, a woman coming inside the prison and the video of said woman’s visit getting leaked by some mysterious force. But the usual problems take a backseat when a random prisoner is found in one of the cells, which has been closed for years – and thus starts the chaos.
Karagar creates a delicious mystery for all of us; the concept is so ludicrous that you can’t help but wait to figure out what exactly is going on. From the moment the odd discovery is made, you wonder whether this is supernatural or if there’s some shared guilt thing comes to haunt them from the past. Or is the guy mentally unwell? The questions are many, but the answers are, unfortunately, few.
The more we know about the story, the more confusing things get. Karagar gives us limited information to work with from the first minute; you get to know some, but it’s vague information that just makes things more confusing. This results in the show being absolutely arresting, and for audiences, that means you won’t be able to look away from the first episode.
It’s great that the show doesn’t waste its time in unnecessary drama; you’re not going to hide behind uninteresting extra information that doesn’t add anything to the storyline. In turn, everything that we see just makes the situation worse in a way and makes everything rather bleak.
There’s a feeling of hopelessness and fear – like something horrible is hiding behind the shadowy walls of the prison. And this unnamed extra prisoner only makes that worse – I’ll repeat what I said, the story is absolutely ludicrous and deliciously unhinged, and the setup is done extremely well. However, it’s not all about the mysterious prisoner; Mostak Ahmed’s life, too, is a subject of conversation and is rather confusing as well.
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Even though there’s a lot going on in the other’s lives as well, this series is about prisoner 145 – that’s the mystery that is all-consuming, and rightly so. The other’s lives, which get muddled up in this mess, add context to the story, but does it have anything to do with the mysterious man’s story? That’s for the audience to find out.
Chanchal Chowdhury is simply too good as prisoner 145 – he doesn’t say a word through the show’s runtime, but every time we watch him, it’s difficult to look away. He speaks using his eyes, and it’s great watching him. Meanwhile, Intekhab Dinar and Tasnia Fareen are great as well, and their lives intertwine with each other rather well; their backstories aren’t too much, and you genuinely feel their plight as things slowly start to make sense.
Summing Up: Karagar
Karagar is an excellently-made show that opens up its pages slowly and lets the information trickle out in the most maddening way. As you question who this mysterious prisoner is, you also get sucked into the lives of those around him. If you’re in the mood for something totally arresting and intriguing, give this one a shot.
Karagar is streaming on Hoichoi.
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