Mathagam (2023) S01 [Bengali-Hindi]

A “dead” gangster resurrects, Mathagam and he is a man with an elaborate plan. With the city under threat, IPS officer Ashwath’s only choice is to be two steps ahead.

The series revolves around Ashwath (Atharvaa), a Mathagam high-ranking police officer who decides to go after Padalam Sekar (K Manikandan), also known as the Whale, who is assembling Chennai’s entire underworld for a party with an agenda that remains a major mystery. Ashwath runs the operation with approval from police commissioner Sayanthika (Dilnaz Irani). On the personal life front, the police officer is also dealing with a complicated family situation as his wife, Vaideghi (Nikhila Vimal), is going through post-partum depression. The five episodes of the show follow a cat-and-mouse chase between Ashwath and Padalam. While trying to nab the underworld gangsters through covert operations and other means, Ashwath is also constantly faced with the reality of the level of corruption in the police system and also the nexus between politicians and gangsters. Building a good crime thriller narrative is tough, given that it has to hook you into the story completely. In the case of this series, while the story at hand has potential, over the course of five episodes, the plot takes a while to grow on you. The slow-burner approach doesn’t particularly work for all stories, and it certainly doesn’t work in this case. A strange creative choice that the director makes in the case of Mathagam is how he goes on to introduce some supporting characters of the story right till the end of the season. Each gangster that is invited to Padalam’s party gets a unique name. While this delays the main story, some of these supporting characters certainly make an impact, especially with their quirky names of Coin Siva, Ice Box and Mava Sait. Not only do we learn about their exploits but also other characteristics, such as one of them is also a singer.