The film opens with Avinash (Anil Kapoor) stepping off the Calcutta Mail train at Kolkata's Howrah station arriving in a sea of people, clearly with mission in mind. He is a man driven who is looking for Lakhan Yadav (Sayaji Shinde). his search takes him through the underbelly of the Calcutta in search of the elusive Lakhan Yadav. Lakhan Yadav we see is a slime, cruel and vicious small time mobster. There is a connection between Avinash and Yadav but what is it?

Avinash comes to stay at a Chawl where he meets Bulbul (Rani Mukherjee) who is occupying the same room that he has rented. But Bulbul is actually staying there under false pretences , researching as she is, the people of a chawl for a novel that she is writing. There develops a camaraderie of sorts which then falls into the usual “dream song” situation with bulbul falling for our man with a mission.
The story then begins to unfold. Lakhan Yadav has kidnapped Avinash’s son and Avinash ishere to reclaim him. We then fall in to flashback territory with Avinash rescuing runaway damsel in distress (Manisha) who’s gangster father (Satish Kaushik) is keen to marry her off to his side kick Lakhan Yadav. Avinash marries her and they settle down in blissful oblivion until one day, Pops shows up at her door. Ostensibly leaving her alone after seeing her well settled, Avinash returns one day to find his wife butchered and son missing. We then move back into the present. Rehabilitated after having been beaten up, Avinash approaches his father in law for assistance who states that Lakhan Yadav is the murderer of his daughter and he now wants a ransom of 50 crores for Avinash’s son

. Calcutta mail starts off as a dark and nightmarish journey though the murky side of Calcutta but falls foul to Bollywood concerns with the introduction of Bulbul’s character. Once she is introduced, any modicum of realism flies out of the window and you begin to view the film with a certain predictability. The plot is messy and there is an overdoes of violence. Sudhir Mishra fumbles in trying to reach a balance between realism and incorporating a certain “commercial” element into the film. Why was it necessary to have Bulbul there as a romantic interest? Why must images of Howrah Bridge be diluted with dream sequences of songs at hilltops which goes against the grain of the film.

Ultimately, it turns into your usual clichéd gangster story despite its final climax and robs the film of any impression that it may have had. Mishra fails in trying to link the commercial with the realistic has a long way to go before he finds the right blend, like Varma did so effectively in “Company”. Anil Kapoor gives a fine performance as Avinash. He underplays and brings to Avinash, the just the right edge in terms of anxiety and determintation. Rani Mukherjee is her sweet bubbly self in a role which has probably been cooked up to add to the commercial prospects of the film. Its not a credible role but made pleasant enough by Rani. Manisha has little to and is wasted in her brief role. Satish Kaushik provides a menacing and compelling villain. The music of the film is poor and jars at many places. Ultimately, Calcutta mail promises much more than it delivers.