I was a fan of Mahabharat by Swastik House, which is why I was interested to see the actors' later work. I got interested in the show because Yudhishthir and Bheem were there. The trailer looked interesting and it said it was based on a true story. So voila, I checked it out.
The cinematography was old school. I survived it because I had grown up watching DD National shows. Old school cinemarography has its own charm so it can be forgiven if the story is good. Then comes performances. Rohit Bharadwaj was the star performer of the show. He expressed quite well with his expressions, body language and dialogue delivery. However the remanants of Mahabharat's pure Hindi would randomly appear out of him, like "Satya ki khoj" or "mai pashu pakshiyon ke case nahi leta". It was cute and hillarious at the same time. Also Saurav Gurjar who happened to be one of the greatest finds of Mahabharat, surprisingly appeared as a fantastic actor on this series. His chemistry with his "jyeshta" was on par. These two brothers had a commanding screen presence to be honest. So I stayed for them and luckily their performance did not disappoint me.
It was however the editing, direction and overall execution of the series that ended with an unsatisfying conclusion. Without spoiling much, let me reframe the story for you. Its about a very charming but broke private detective (Rohit Bharadwaj), who lives with guilt and sorrow in his heart. He sees his girlfriend's ghost in his dreams and is unable to move on or even forgive himself. He comes across a case where he has to look for a parrot, of a woman whose husband (who is a scientist) has gone missing for a long time. He didnt want to take the case of a parrot but his broke ass forces him to go for it. Things get complicated as the woman who hired her dies and then he gets entangled in a way bigger crime that he can't figure out.
Don't worry, even we the audience can't figure it out. They give the explaination but really, had the execution been better we would have actually taken interest in what really happened. The story had potential but the director didn't. The editing was messy. The scriptwriter was amateur, the scene transitions were inconsistent. The ending left me scratching my head not with wonder but rather confusion.
Overall the show could have succeeded if the director and editor worked harder. The actors were all great. They were the people who kept the series tolerable. And I mean all the actors, even the supporting cast. If they had been bad at acting this series would have been insufferable.
Dear Rohit Bharadwaj, if you are reading this, I watched this show only for you and Saurav. I sat through ads and what not only to make sure you guys get your due credit at the end. I am leaving an honest review so that you do better next time. I am a writer too BTW and yes, I loved your work. But I didn't enjoy this series as much I wanted to. However I give points for attempt and I hope to see you soon with something better and interesting.
