What Is the Story About?
Sony LIV’s new Indian original series ‘Adrishyam: The Invisible Heroes’ follows spies of the Indian Intelligence Agency who live dual lives – they work at ordinary, everyday jobs and lead mediocre family lives on the one hand; but in reality, work as spies in utter secrecy. Ravi Verma (Eijaz Khan) and Parvati Sehgal (Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya) are secret agents extraordinaire, who must stop a deadly terrorist operation before it’s too late.
The series is produced by Sachin Pandey and Aditya Pandey, with Anshuman Sinha and Kumar Chanakya as showrunners and Anshuman Kishore Singh as director.
Performances?
The performances in Adrishyam: The Invisible Heroes are average, with none that deserves to be called outstanding. Divyanka Tripathi as Parvati, Ejaz Khan as Ravi and Swaroopa Ghosh as their boss Ronjeeta Ray are the only ones that hold our attention.
The rest of the cast is strictly OK, including Shriya Jha, Shyam Kishore, Satish Badal, Tarun Anand, Mir Sarwar, Amit Anand Raut, Sunit Razdan, Piyush Singh among others.
Analysis
Adrishyam: The Invisible Heroes is yet another spy drama to land in the Indian streaming space, this time on Sony LIV. And it is yet another Indian spy drama that is centred on Islamic terrorism. Honestly speaking, we’re so done with the trope-ridden core premise of Muslim terrorists plotting a devastating attack on India. Don’t Hindi content writers have any imagination or inventiveness left – the ability to pluck a compelling plot and villain out of their own creativity?
As seen by Indian viewers in gazillions of other content, a Muslim / Pakistani / Al Qaeda — choose any – as if it matters — terrorist is planning “something big”, as their informer informs spies Parvati Sehgal and Ravi Varma. The two, in association with the crack spy team they lead, must stop the fundamentalists before disaster strikes.
Several times during the two episodes streaming, the plot of Adrishyam reminds one of Manoj Bajpayee’s excellent Prime Video show, ‘The Family Man’, especially the subterfuge of the leads of living a dual life. But that’s where the similarities end.
The wafer-thin plot of Adrishyam is uninventive and done-to-death. It lacks chutzpah and panache, leading to a series that is utterly devoid of sizzle and spark. More importantly, it is saddled with yawn-inducing predictability and run-of-the-mill plot devices.
The Family Man was embellished with breath-taking action sequences, compelling characters and a taut, no-nonsense narrative. Adrishyam has none of those. Instead, the series is stale and routine, with not a single interesting action sequence to watch.
What’s more, it invests no effort or time to endear any of the characters to the audience – not even the stereotypical leads. Not once do we root for or feel anything for them, their concerns or their uninspiring back stories.
In the end, Adrishyam: The Invisible Heroes is a criminal waste of resources, and a series no one will remember once it’s over. Two episodes are streaming as of now, with more arriving every Thursday and Friday. Watch it if you must, but don’t tell us we didn’t warn you!
Music and Other Departments?
The music of Adrishyam is tired and jaded. It does nothing to lift the narrative. The camerawork is uninventive and uninspiring. The editing is average.
Highlights?
None worth mentioning
Drawbacks?
Hackneyed, done-to-death Plot
Predictable Sequences
Boring Subplots
Lousy Writing
Weak Characterizations
Did I Enjoy It?
No
Will You Recommend It?
No
Adrishyam: The Invisible Heroes Series Review by Binged Bureau
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