Not a mystery why series falls short

Crime ka jaisa bhi ho jaal, solve karegi Reeta Sanyal… this catchphrase is probably the brightest thing in this Adah Sharma-starrer series that tries to do a female Sherlock Holmes. Only, its attempt to make a frothy series about a detective lawyer rolls out rather insipidly.

Don’t judge a series by its opening scenes. But when it opens with a singularly unfunny take on a case involving dogs, you know its wackiness is going to be rather limited. Or, at best, juvenile. As Reeta Sanyal wins this ludicrous case, she is looking for something with more bite (pun intended). And fair enough, she literally walks into a case that has grave political ramifications. A woman has been accused of murdering a political heavyweight. The son claims the mother is innocent and he is the killer.

Yet, no one is listening except Reeta Sanyal. How can she ensure justice in such a seemingly complex and bizarre case? Well, the web is laid out for viewers. It takes us into many alleys, of abuse, corruption, and politics. Adah Sharma as Reeta Sanyal dons the avatar of a journalist, waitress and what have you to crack the case. Indeed, the mystery involving the murdered man is not bad per se, what is lacking is the execution.

Though Reeta has many light- bulb moments, we neither get the intelligence of the show, nor the fun part. In this largely women-centric series, even the killer on the loose is a woman (Nirisha Basnett). Now, here, many from the Northeast can take offence as once again our bias towards them surfaces. ‘Shayad woh bahar se thi ya phir Northeast se’ — these lines expose the blinkers we continue to wear about fellow Indians. The way she gobbles a fish along with shards of glass, well she is certainly shown as a crackpot. Of course, a flashback establishes part of her motives.

All the heavy lifting in the series is done by women and we don’t say that by way of a compliment. Apart from the titular character played reasonably well by Adah, there is this YouTuber fiancee (Anahita Bhooshan) of the dead man who props up every now and then, as does her selfie stick. But before you can say hurrah to women power, let’s say all these gender-just interjections do not add any spark or mettle. The killer flashes like a fireball but even her energy is of no avail.

Men who only exist on the margins are no more than cardboard cut-outs. Even the Goliath, Rahul Dev, the antagonist and Reeta’s adversary in the courtroom, has little menace. Ankur Rathee tries to breathe some life into his Jai Vardhan, the cop, but in the absence of proper backing from the writing team, there isn’t much he can do except play second fiddle and assist Reeta.

As for her other assistant, the less said the better. Manik Papneja is Ishan, the Watson to Reeta. But even the word elementary would sound like rocket science in his rather dull portrayal. His contribution in solving the case is almost zilch. The twist in his character arc, though surprising, is meant to elevate his status but does little to push the series out of its mediocrity.

We get it, not everything has to be logical or highbrow. But, what about quirky, amusing and entertaining? Based on the book series by Amit Khan, who has given us characters like Commander Karan Saxena, the series could have been mini-capsules of fun and excitement. At 20 minutes per episode, with one dropping every day on Disney+Hotstar, the comic book treatment should have been way sharper and snazzier.

Indeed, if you start watching, you might be goaded to follow till the end. For that is the nature of a murder mystery; however lackluster, you do want to know the whodunit part.

With 10 episodes out of the total of 20 available for review, it does leave the room wide open for more guessing games. Only, we are not biting the bait. Be it Reeta’s backstory concerning her father, or why this young woman with schoolgirl looks has turned into a killing machine, we are no longer interested in playing the fool.