Kaala

Kaala is a crime drama thriller show directed by bejoy nambiar. A show devoid of emotional connection but high on technical flamboyance is a one very confusing. You don't get to know whether the latter is a device to cover for the former, or whether its a serious shortcoming. But what you cannot fault is jitin gulati's performance as balwant bir rana aka shakti arya. A person who is paranoid, shackled in her own character is a very difficult one to play, it can easily turn into a caricature, but gulati masters the balance between the two genders. I also liked the way avinash remains emotionless during his father's reemergence, signalling towards his emotionally distant childhood. He keeps pushing away at his mother too. But I cannot hail it as his best. Hiten tejwani does his best in an underwritten role. Other characters don't get that much space to leave a mark. A certain nod to the actual CM of west bengal by mita vashisht's character was great. The writing and pacing of the series is inconsistent for sure. In the initial episodes, we feel the length despite them being around 30mins long. The major reason is the apparent confusion in the screenplay, and the flashbacks not making sense till that point. But from the 4th episode onwards, the non-linear screenplay structure starts making sense, we connect the timelines and events. The 7th episode is a writing masterclass in terms of tension building and suspense structure. The twist at the end of it will shock you. The series fails to connect us with the city of kolkata, and west bengal in general. There is a plethora of bengali actors in the series, some good names like biswanath chatterjee and suhotra mukherjee, but their role is very small and insignificant. The character writing of shakti arya and ritwik mukherjee are two of the show's strong points. Both of them have had a troubled childhood, daddy issues and both make their choices. Shakti arya's character arc genuinely makes you feel, him being a transgender makes sense, incorporated in the screenplay with a cause. Ritwick's arc is good, but emotionally distant like his character. We cannot feel for him, even if we want to. The show excels in technical departments. The cinematography is breathtaking. The shots that they have used in the chasing sequences, the colour pallete of the series gives it an edge. Red colour in the paranoic scenes of ritwik and shakti's lives symbolises the inner turmoil and rage within. Green at the end of the series behind ritwick signifies a kind of peace. Blue in certain raid sequences gives us a sense of cold detachment. There is a though process behind these colours and bejoy nambiar gets it on point. The editing style is very stylish and sleek. Every episode starts with a cut-in scene where the sound and visual go hand in hand. The throdding editing during the paranoia scenes resemble the turmoil that the characters are going through. The background score is great, exhilarating during the chase and raids, while a synth music gives a peppy, sleek feel to the series. But the music is average. Some songs are good, but i m sorry to say that the rabindra sangeets have been badly tinkered with. Some subsplots could have dealt with in a different way. Aaloka being a lesbian does not serve the story any purpose, the other partner could have been just a friend too. Also, the angle of a palpable flirty romance between the bankers shirish and varsha fails terribly. Its just a comic relief and nothing else. A possible rating can be 7.75/10.

Loved how the entire series was created, the going back n forth between the past to the present, plus it had the modernisation feel by showing regular love affairs, gay love - both male/female, patriotism can also be done if the person has the will... I'd definitely recommend. A very good example of how the people sitting in the US try to control the lives, politics, government of all other countries despite the fact that their own country is in the dump. Then shows how easy it is to get things done in our country by bribing officials... the list of officials includes people in all departments.