Join WhatsApp Channel
The director, Prosit Roy (the film Pari and the hyped series, Paatal Lok) is on his own trip of self-indulgence, a common happening when undeserved encomiums come one’s way.
Having assisted on one good film (Abbas Tyrewala’s Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na) and many mediocre ones, one can appreciate his sensibilities veering towards the uncongenial. I apologize if this sounds too personal for a review, but I have never been a fan of his directorial orientations that in effect, showcase and highlight darkness and depravity with great sadistic pleasure. I would, in fact, want to ask Roy whether a web series watched at home, where teenagers and children may also watch or saunter in, merits such exposure to the kind of depraved violence and brutality freely shown in the visuals.
Yes, I am aware that there is no censorship on the web. I do not advocate it either, but the answer should be self-restraint.
What’s more, this series is an adaptation of a real-life case that took place in Delhi in 1978—the Ranga-Billa case as it was known. This was about how two teenage children of an army officer were kidnapped and murdered (and the girl raped) by two men, who, over here, are shown having moved to Delhi from Mumbai. While, in the real story, both culprits were shown to be Singhs, Roy, in his eternal ‘wisdom,’ chooses to make the main instigator a Maharashtrian. Reason for this change unknown, of course. Does he have a grouse against Maharashtrians? Your guess is as good as mine for this weird metamorphosis.
The high-profile case is handed over to the very sincere sub-inspector Jayprakash (Ali Fazal), whose father (Rakesh Bedi) makes “the best mutton curry in Delhi.” Does that dish have relevance? No sirree, as the phrase goes, not really! The two parallel tracks of the kids’ murder and these two rogues merge pretty late, with the killers going on a rampage, and the investigation and sheer devastation of the parents, shown in explicit detail to evoke, I think, nothing other than admiration for the director, scriptwriters and makers.
Real factors naturally come in: the children (who were given money for a cab) head to the radio station where the girl has to audition. In real life, it was drizzling. In the film, there is a downpour.
Roy, as with many an art film / middle-of-the-road / dark and ‘evolved’ moviemakers, takes basic licenses with logic. In the Premier Padmini vehicle the criminals have given the kids a lift in, the kids cannot even open the doors—or windows! Mind you, central locking never existed then. On a normal day, there is virtually no vehicle in Delhi, even allowing the downpour. Such liberties with logic would never be accepted in a Rohit Shetty or Anees Bazmee entertainer!
Leave all that, however, and come to the depiction of human fiendishness. Again, as with our filmmakers, 99 percent of evildoers are given a needless traumatic past—let’s term it right: justification! Apparently, the main ghoul here, Kumar alias Babu (Akash Makhija) has been a devil from childhood, setting fire to his home and doing other unmentionable things, like killing a classmate in school in a horrific way.
En route, he and his sidekick, Rajjo (Ramandeep Yadav) have indulged in multiple wrongs (mainly murders and mutilations). The focus is on the children’s killings with the other victims getting occasional attention. This when the way Babu has dealt with them is grotesque—and is shown!
On the other side, piece by piece, the devoted Jayprakash hunts for the rogues, traversing from Delhi to small towns to Mumbai and investigating tirelessly.
And now, the series’ daft climax. The story ends in episode 7. But there is an eighth one too. It has two dominant parts: the first 10 to 12 minutes describes with ghoulish perversion what Rajjo and Babu did with and to the innocent kids. Roy seems to take an unholy pleasure out of showing the sickening visuals and my heart goes out to the two teenage actors who must have gone through the psychological trauma of enacting these roles.
The last few minutes are even worse, given the whole story: in what comes as a deranged portrayal (after sensible and sensitive viewers have withstood all the gory stuff), we get an “imaginary” depiction of how ideally the story on that fateful day could have played out happily and the parents celebrating the victory of their daughter. Really, Mr. Roy?????
Raakh thus emerges as a disgusting piece of storytelling that is best avoided, even of some segments of the story are actually hard-hitting and also move one in the way they should. In many such poor scripts, ironically, the characters are fleshed out quite well, and that is true here of Jayprakash as well as his friend, Nisar, the journalist (Anshul Chauhan). The characters of the villains, per se, are well-done had their degenerate deeds be spelt out with restraint and where possible, even in symbolic ways.
Ali Fazal is fabulous as Jayprakash and Akashdeep Makhija and Ramandeep Yadav are perfectly loathsome. The kids, Divya Sharma and Vivaan Sharma are outstanding. Sonali Bendre Behl does extremely well as their victimized mother. Aamir Bashir and Divyendu Bhattcharya are good in their roles, as also the rest of the cast.
Technically alright, the series had lots of room for improvement and to deliver a story of human savagery in the right manner that was also acceptable. Dark is fine, but depravity is best shown in the classy manner of an Undekhi. Not in this sordid, morbid way. And it is a shocker that a setup like BhaDiPa, a company that believes in nutritious shorts and more, is involved here as well.
Rating: **
Amazon Prime Video presents Endemol Shine India’s & BhaDiPa’s Raakh Produced by: Deepak Dhar, Rishi Negi, Mrinalini Jain, and Shyam Rathi Directed by: Prosit Roy Written by: Anusha Nandakumar, Sandeep Saket, Renuka Dixit, Hussain Haidry, Ayush Trivedi Music: Ajay Jayanthi & Parth Pandya Starring: Ali Fazal, Anshul Chauhan, Akash Makhija, Ramandeep Yadav, Sonali Bendre Behl, Aamir Bashir, Divya Sharma, Vivaan Sharma, Rakesh Bedi, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Naina Sareen & others
