Grahan

SP Amrita Kaur (aka Amu, Zoya Hussain) is disillusioned by her humdrum Ranchi Police job, the lack of challenges and indifferent supervisors. She lives with her father Gursewak Singh (Pawan Raj Malhotra) who is a doting dad to the motherless Amu. Gursewak speaks little, but understands his daughter's dilemma. And one fine day, a Special Investigation Team is set up by the Jharkhand Government and Amu is made the team laid to research and submit a report on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that rocked Bokaro, just a hundred kilometres away. Amu realises that it's not going to be easy because of the vintage of the case and believes that most of those who were impacted by the riots or those who were behind them, may no longer be alive. Albeit, she takes it up as a challenge, and almost against the advice of Gursewak, a staunch Sikh himself, sets out to do her best.

But the facts of the anti-Sikh riots in Bokaro are indeed shrouded in mystery, lack of evidence and unwillingness of people to speak up. On top of that, Amu is herself quite intrigued by a character from 1984, Rishi Ranjan, who she quickly discovers, was the leader of the carnage from photographs available. Here starts her problems - political and administrative pressures commence to pile up against her as she digs into the history and every time she starts working on a lead, things go out of control. Yet, she realises that the case has something to do with her family and as if out of a dream, chances to meet her mother in Bokaro, who Gursewak had told her that she had died when Amu was very young. From here on, Amu gets embroiled in a severe conflict of interest as a fact explodes on her face like a bomb. Whether she is able to find out who Rishi Ranjan was, what is the connection of the case to her family and if she is able to come clean of the blemish on her reputation is the crux of Grahan.

Grahan is not meant to be a documentary that researches and prepares a white paper on the anti-Sikh riots in Bokaro or for that matter anywhere. As such, it may leave viewers with certain expectations disgruntled, like Vidhu Vinod Chopra's "Shikara". Grahan is a drama about human values, sacrifices and a love sublime, quite reminiscent of Yash Chopra's "Veer Zaara". But that politicians and powerful people could rake up communal disharmony through riots to fulfil their own aspirations using religion as a divisuve tool, has been depicted in graphic details in Grahan. Pawan Raj Malhotra as Gursewak Singh delivers an understated yet indelible performance despite his limited screen time. Zoya Hussain is powerful in her essay of an individual torn between professional and personal demands of the case. But Anshuman Pushkar as Rishi Ranjan is downright delightful and credible and is aptly complemented by Wamiqa Gabbi as Manu Chhabra. Teekam Joshi as Sanjay Singh is sophisticated and poised in his demonic aspirations. Grahan is marked by some superlative performances, undoubtedly. Amit Trivedi's music is yet another asset of the series, unending its aesthetic appeal of this unmissable series helmed by Ranjan Chandel.