Khadaan (; ) is a 2024 Indian Bengali-language action thriller film written and directed by Soojit Rino Dutta. Produced by Nispal Singh and Dev under the banners of Surinder Films and Dev Entertainment Ventures respectively, the film stars Dev in dual roles, alongside Jisshu Sengupta in the lead, with an ensemble cast of Anirban Chakrabarti, Barkha Bisht, Idhika Paul, John Bhattacharya, Partha Sarathi Chakraborty, Sneha Bose, Sujan Neel Mukherjee, Sumit Ganguly and Raja Dutta. In the film, an ordinary fair organizer from a coal mine near the Damodar Valley, is recruited by his dead father's like-minded friend to be a partner in his coal syndicate, and there the former discovers the truth on some unfolded events.
The film was officially announced in January 2024 with a character motion poster. Principal photography commenced in February 2024 in Kolkata, with the major filming taking place in Asansol, Durgapur and Raniganj in subsequent schedules. The soundtrack of the film is composed by Rathijit Bhattacharjee, Savvy and Nilayan Chatterjee, while Bhattacharjee himself provides its score. The screenplay and dialogues of the film are written by Biswaroop Biswas and Dutta respectively. Shailesh Awashthi handled its cinematography and MD. Kalam did the editing. The film marks Dev's debut as creative director and a comeback to the action genre after a few years.
Khadaan was released in the theatres on 20 December 2024, on the eve of Christmas, to positive reviews from critics and audience alike with specific appraisals of its cast performances, direction, script, action sequences, and musical score. The film set several box-office records for a Bengali film, overtaking those set by Dev starrer Chander Pahar (2013). Grossing over crore, it became a blockbuster at the box office and emerged as the highest grossing Bengali film of 2024 and the third highest grossing Bengali film of all time. At the 8th Filmfare Awards Bangla, Khadaan received 14 nominations, including Best Film, Best Debut Director (Dutta) and Best Actor (Dev).
Plot 1997: After losing everything in Bangladesh, Shyam comes to India as an illegal immigrant by crossing the border. Here he went to work as a laborer in the coal mines of the Damodar Valley and there he met Mohan, a Vaishnavite. Over the time, they developed a strong bond of friendship. Together with Shyam's strength and Mohan's mastermind, they gained monopoly control over the entire colliery. They had developed their complete influence over the coal syndicate.
This amplification in power bought them in a stand against the local MLA, Shehzad Siddique. In the meantime, Shyam had become a messiah for the poor labourers, mostly belonging from the local adivasi community. He didn't support the idea of grabbing their agricultural lands and on the top, gave them 20 percent share of the coal khadaan. This brought him in contact with the adivasi leader, Mandi.
In a heated confrontation and argument, Shyam killed a police officer. This resulted in him going behind the bars, at a time when he had a newborn child and wife Jamuna. But he mysteriously dies inside the jail.
2024: Now, Mohan has become a rich industrialist in that region through the illegal coal syndicate and has also gained monopoly over the mines. He gently offers Shyam's son Madhu to join his lead team, who is just a coal transporter now. This does not go well with Makhan, Mohan's son who had hoped to inherit his father's business .With the passage of time, as Madhu becomes one of Mohan's most trusted people, he gets to know the reason behind his father's death. Madhu now wants to take revenge against the atrocities committed against his father.
In the end, it is revealed that Mohan was the main culprit behind his father's death. Mohan, who was jealous of Shyam mixed sleeping pills in Shyam's food due to which Shyam went into deep sleep. During this opportunity, Mohan strangulated him to death, about which Shyam was totally unaware since he was in deep sleep and in order to prevent suspicion, Mohan arranged the incident like as if Shyam committed suicide.
Madhu upon hearing this gets enraged and kills Mohan just like Shyam was once killed. With Mohan removed, Madhu becomes the unchallenged crime boss of the coal mines.
Cast
Production Development In August 2023, there were rumours that Raj Chakraborty is collaborating with Dev for an action film, which would be based on coal smuggling, under the production of Shree Venkatesh Films. But later it was revealed during mid-September, that Dev opted out of Chakraborty's project due to date issues and Mithun Chakraborty signed the film. In December 2023, it was confirmed that the coal smuggling based film originally was pitched by Soojit Rino Dutta, while Raj Chakraborty's film was different, which Dev previously turned down. Surinder Films came on the board associating with Dev Entertainment Ventures to co-produce the film.
Pre-production and announcement Initially during the timespace of 2015–2016, Soojit Rino Dutta began researching at the coal mining areas and explored the subject of coal smuggling and the socio-political events related with the residents of those surroundings. After he finished the research, playwright Biswaroop Biswas completed the screenplay, while Dutta himself wrote dialogues. Since most of the film takes place in a rural backdrop, Dev was reported to have learned the Santhali accent for the film. The story is set against the backdrop of Raniganj, located in the region of Asansol. Initially Nilayan Chatterjee was reported to be the music director of the film, while Rathijit Bhattacharjee and Savvy also came on the board along with him. Cinematographer Shailesh Awashthi, who previously worked with Dev for Challenge 2 (2012) and Rangbaaz (2013), was signed for the film, with MD. Kalam as the editor. Aejaz Gulab Shaikh, Sunil Rodrigues and Rajesh Kannan were roped to design the action sequences, whereas Bablu Singha handled the production designing. D. Shankaraiyaa aka Shanker Master and Debraj Ghoshal were chosen for dance choreography.
The film was announced by the makers on 1 January 2024 with a motion poster, which revealed the title of the film as Khadaan. It also revealed the first look of Dev's character as Shyam Mahato in the film. On 16 January 2024, Dev, along with his team including Soojit Dutta, went to recce at the Sonpur Bazari Coal mines at ECL in Pandaveshwar, accompanied by ECL officers, to consider the place as one of the shooting spots. On that occasion, Dev also inaugurated his wax statue at the Asansol Wax Museum, organized by sculptor Sushanta Roy.
Casting
Chanchal Chowdhury entered talks to play a pivotal role in the film, supposed to be the antagonist, however he refused due to time constraints. In February 2026, he shared his guilt for declining the role. Post Chowdhury's exit, Mosharraf Karim, Jeetu Kamal and Anirban Bhattacharya were reported to be proposed for that role in the film, but ultimately Jisshu Sengupta came on the board and was announced playing a Vaishnavite character of Dev's friend in the film in January 2024. It marked Dev and Jisshu together in a film 8 years after Zulfiqar in 2016. Jisshu, the captain of the team Bengal Tigers in the Celebrity Cricket League, conditioned to shoot only if he got leave to play, to which the makers agreed. Later, Idhika Paul was announced as the film's lead actress, and Soumitrisha Kundu was reported to be another lead actress of the film, but it was proved to be a rumour when Barkha Bisht joined the cast for that role. It marked pairing up between Dev and Barkha, 14 years after Dui Prithibi in 2010. Anirban Chakrabarti was confirmed to play an important role in the film. In February 2024, Sumit Ganguly, Raja Dutta and Parthasarathi Chakraborty joined the cast, each of them reuniting with Dev after a few years.
Bonny Sengupta was approached for a pivotal role in the film, but he rejected it, because he didn't want to work in any dark or negative character, also preferring to maintain his romantic hero image among the audience. Then Vikram Chatterjee was considered for the role, who had to turn down due to other commitments. Later, Amartya Ray was offered the role, but after he rejected it, John Bhattacharya joined the cast in March 2024, for the role. In an interview to Aajkaal, Bhattacharya stated, "It is absolutely difficult to leave the opportunity of sharing screen with two acting giants, Dev da and Jisshu da".
Filming On 14 February 2024, on the eve of Saraswati Puja, the Muhurat of the film was performed at the office of Surinder Films. The makers planned to shoot the first schedule of the film in Kolkata in February 2024, after Dev would complete his commitments with Tekka (2024). The filming commenced on 16 February 2024 with a short schedule in Kolkata, and also a revelation of the first look posters of Dev and Jisshu. In an interview to the Anandabazar Patrika, the director informed about the difficulties of finding a suitable shooting spot in Kolkata. On 25 February 2024, an action sequence was shot at the tram depot in Nonapukur, under the supervision of fight master Rajesh Kannan. On 27 February, the team was spotted in Shobhabazar, where a particular scene was filmed at Chhaya cinema hall. The first schedule of the film was completed on 1 March 2024.
From 4 March 2024, the second schedule commenced in the coal mines of Asansol, having major parts of the film been shot there, where Jisshu Sengupta joined the cast members. In this schedule, the song "Kishori" was filmed for 4 days, with an inclusion of 20 dancers. The song was picturized on Dev and Idhika Paul and was choreographed by D. Shankaraiyaa. An action sequence in the mud was shot with Dev and John Bhattacharya in the timespace of 10 and 12 March 2024 in Durgapur, which was designed by Rajesh Kannan. The remaining parts of this schedule, were filmed in the Asansol and Raniganj coalfields where Dev had gone earlier to recce, with some parts of the film being filmed Bankura. A scene where Dev puts a burning cigar inside his mouth, was finally shot after he had injured his lips 55 times with hot flashes from the cigar, along with burning his tongue and beard, during the retakes. A specific scene was filmed at the Randiha Barrage beside the Damodar River in Panagarh, where Dev and Jisshu met the fans who came to see the shooting. On 13 March 2024, the makers uploaded second poster of the film, informing that the second schedule of the film had been completed.
After the completion of Dev's commitments with the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the shooting resumed in July 2024 again in Asansol. For 3 days, the team shot in the rural environment at Nalban in Bidhannagar but had to shoot indoor on the fourth day due to heavy rains. From 19 July to 22 July, the song "Radharani" was filmed portraying the a Kirtan programme. The song "Haye Re Biye" was shot in this schedule. The same month, an action sequences was shot at least 400 ft. deep in the coalmines of Jamuria for a week. In August 2024, a massive underwater sequence was shot in the Damodar River. The remaining parts in the schedule were filmed across Durgapur, Asansol and Bankura. During this schedule, on 28 September 2024, the song "Rajar Raja" was shot in Baranagar, also with a high octane action sequence. The song was filmed at the aforementioned place, constructing a special set of a village fair. Along with 200 dancers, Dev danced to this song on the sand in scorching heat, under Shankaraiyaa's supervision. On 1 October 2024, the producers informed with a new poster that the filming has been completed and wrapped up.
Post-production