Challenge 2 2012

Debraj Roy is an independent MLA of the Debnagar constituency in West Bengal, a seat named after him and held up as a beacon for the poor and for idealism. When a truck collides with the car he and his brother Angshuman Roy are traveling in, Debraj slips into a coma. To everyone else, it seems he has been killed, and only his family clings to hope as the years pass.

Years later, his son, Abhiraj “Abhi” Roy, is a police officer in Mumbai waging a quiet war against the mafia, focused on taking down a notorious don, Guru Nayak who runs illegal drug trade, extortion, and arms trafficking.

During an undercover assignment in Kuala Lumpur, Abhi meets Pooja, the daughter of his senior officer, Madhusudan Bakshi, and mutual attraction grows. Pooja initially resists his advances, causing him to pause, but he presses on. He completes the operation and arrests Nayak’s brother Bunty. Back in India, he encounters Pooja again, and this time she returns his feelings.

In a bid to arrest Nayak, Bunty and the police commissioner are killed, and Debraj’s loyal follower Shivu reveals to Abhi that Nayak, along with Debraj’s rival Apurba Ghosh and other followers including Jagganath and Krishnakanto Mitro, were behind the accident that left Debraj in a coma. Seizing the moment, Abhi begins to plot to kill them all.

When Debraj finally emerges from the coma, doctors warn the family that his life is at stake if he experiences anything upsetting or shocking. Abhi hides the events surrounding the accident and moves his family into a previously abandoned mansion, now repurposed for film-making. He crafts a false political setup there. Under the guise of a reality television program, Abhi dupes an aspiring but unsuccessful actor Swarnakamal, convincing him that Mithun Chakraborty’s television show sponsors the project and offering a lavish remuneration for a convincing performance. Meanwhile, an aspiring actor Premjit and Apurba Ghosh are drawn into a real estate deal engineered to exploit Abhi’s criminal nexus.

Abhi keeps this drama well under wraps from Debraj, presenting himself as an MLA who fulfills his father’s wishes. He even marries Pooja with her family’s consent, a development that delights Debraj. In the shadows, Abhi eliminates Jogonnath and Apurba without anyone realizing, while Debraj believes they died of illness. Nayak travels to Kolkata to finish Abhi, but Abhi’s ruse is exposed to everyone except Debraj. In the climactic sequence, Abhi engages Nayak’s gang in an encounter, and Nayak himself is killed during a Ramlila event. When Debraj finally learns of his son’s deception, he nevertheless feels pride and affection for the bond that has grown between them.