A Potpourri of Vestiges Review
By Murtaza Ali Khan
The
new Disney+ Hotstar series ‘The Great Indian Murder’ is essentially a whodunit.
According to Wikipedia, a whodunit is a complex, plot-driven variety of a
detective story in which the puzzle regarding who committed the crime is the
main focus. The viewer is provided with the clues from which the identity of
the perpetrator may be deduced before the story provides the revelation itself
at its climax. Also, the investigation is usually conducted by an eccentric,
amateur, or semi-professional detective. Now, ‘The Great Indian Murder’ is
based Vikas Swarup’s 2016 novel titled ‘Six Suspects. It follows the murder
investigation of Vicky Rai (portrayed Jatin Goswami), the playboy son of a
powerful politician named Jagganath Rai (essayed by Ashutosh Rana), hailing
from the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The nine episode series is about several
versions of the murder as the investigating officers, Sudha Bhardwaj (played by
Richa Chadha) and Suraj Yadav (portrayed by Pratik Gandhi), come across during
their investigation while interrogating the different suspects.
Directed by Tigmanshu
Dhulia, ‘The Great Indian Murder’ is loosely based on Swarup’s novel. In the
novel, Vicky Rai is the playboy son of the Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh who murders
a female bartender at a high-end restaurant in New Delhi, simply because she refused
to serve him a drink. Now, this is very similar to the Jessica Lal murder case
and so it is totally changed in the series wherein Rai is under trail for the
rape and murder of two underage girls at his Delhi farmhouse. Several other
changes have been done to the novel’s plot for various reasons. But what remains
intact is Swarup’s sprawling narrative that constantly shifting across various
subplots and character arcs. The Disney+ Hotstar series does succeed in
capturing the pulse of Swarup’s novel, at least for the most part. For the
uninitiated, Swarup's debut novel ‘Q&A’ was adapted into the Oscar-winning
film ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ back in 2008.
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was
noted for its nonlinear structure and dynamic narrative that was spread across
different timelines. ‘The Great Indian Murder’ strives for something similar
but unlike ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ the challenge here is to sustain it for nine
long episodes of roughly 40 minutes each. This results in a rather lopsided set
of episodes. While some episodes are pacy and allow the narrative to flow
seamlessly, others tend to be too expository in nature. This is not the kind of
series that’s ideal for binge-watching. A series like this must to be watched
in parts because so much is happening with the characters trapped in different
timelines. We are talking about roughly six hours of intense albeit unevenly
paced storytelling that’s full of all kinds of detail and exposition with an
undercurrent of socio-political commentary.
‘The Great Indian Murder’ is
replete with a panoply of characters, ranging from venal cops to vengeful
actresses to transgressing journalists to corrupt politicians to heroic
activists to playboy pimps to honorable thugs to undignified businessmen to
cunning godmen. Now, some of these characters work well while others fall flat.
The trouble lies with some inconsistent work in the adaptation department. With
such a complex material at hand, it is never easy to get everything spot on.
The characters that work really well are Ashutosh Rana’s power hungry
politician Jagganath Rai, Jatin Goswamy’s playboy son Vicky Rai, Shashank Arora’s
mobile-phone thief Munna, and Paoli Dam’s tinseltown diva Shabnam Saxena. The
characters that work reasonably well include the cop characters essayed by
Richa Chadha and Pratik Gandhi, Amey Wagh’s blogger character Arun Deshmukh, Deepraj
Rana’s henchman Prithvi, and Kenneth Desai’s CM Shashikant Vohra. And, the
characters that completely fall flat include Rucha Inamdar’s Ritu Rai (Vicky’s
step sister), Ronjini Chakraborty’s activist Champi, Raghuvir Yadav’s Mohan
Kumar, and Mani’s tribal character Eketi.
‘The Great Indian Murder’ is
one of those series that isn’t meant for casual viewing. This one really tests
the viewer’s patience until the very end and unless he/she is totally invested
in watching it, the series can turn out to be a totally futile exercise. But
what really work in series’ favor are some brilliant performances on offer. Ashutosh
Rana is riveting to watch in the role of Jagganath Rai who absolutely adores
his playboy son but his lust for power overshadows everything else. Rana has
really been enjoying a purple patch and is delivering one memorable performance
after another. The effortless manner in which he plays a complex character like
Jaggannath Rai truly reflects his class as a performer belonging to the highest
echelons. Jatin Goswamy looks menacing as Vicky Rai and though the character
doesn’t have many layers, Goswamy’s brilliant performance (he was equally
brilliant in Babumoshai Bandookbaaz) makes the character come alive. As for Shashank
Arora, he really seems to have come a long way from his ‘Titli’ days,
continuing to offer something new with each new performance. More was expected
from Pratik Gandhi after ‘Scam 1992’. While Richa Chadha is solid as ever, Paoli
Dam proves to be the real surprise package of the series.
A version of this review was first published at The Daily Guardian.
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