What Is the Story About?
Uma Shankar, an undercover cop, bumps into a feisty girl Gouri, in the middle of a secret operation. Meanwhile, a masked psychopath on the loose is after Gouri. While the serial killer’s case brings Uma and Gouri together consistently, they need to battle different traumas back home – of a drunkard uncle and a conservative mom who’s yet to get over her son’s death.
Performances?
Arjun Ambati is at home cast as a flamboyant cop, caught between a toxic mom, a motormouth love interest and a serial killer on the loose. While he has the right build, and persona to pull off the part, the actor is less impactful in the sequences where he isn’t a hero at work and just another ordinary man back home. Veteran actress Varalaxmi is impressive as a conservative authoritarian.
Aishwarya’s tomboyish character – Gouri – offers nothing out of the blues. However, a few dimensions of the role create an element of intrigue. While Gouri is an introverted girl under the mercy of her uncle at home, she works at a cafe for a living, is an aspirant cop and reveals her true colours in public light. The actress is okayish while trying to be a vivacious ball of energy.
Analysis
It’s evident that Agnisakshi was born out of a business idea rather than the necessity to tell a story. Named after the Telugu popular television soap that enjoyed widespread viewership, the show places its protagonists – Uma Shankar and Gouri – in a different crime-thriller universe. The twist in the tale? The series is a remake of Hotstar’s own Hindi series Aashiyana.
While the strategy to woo small-screen viewers towards OTT using popular characters and bringing a new twist to a remake is convincing, Agnisakshi (whose first four episodes are out) is more a paper tiger than a gripping show. It brings a crime angle within a family drama setup, but neither does it boast of the thrills of a cop saga nor does it have a strong dramatic hook to keep you glued.
Agnisakshi is stuck in a time warp, where regressive characters – both men and women – make obnoxious decisions to complicate the lives of its lead characters. If an evil, abusive uncle makes life hell for Gouri, a police force aspirant, the trauma of losing an elder son forces Uma Shankar’s mother to adopt an ultra-conservative attitude towards women.
The show finds wicked joy in prolonging its runtime – throwing light on the abusive ways of Gouri’s uncle and focusing on the circumstances that led to the death of Uma Shankar’s brother. While you’re trapped in their toxic circumstances at their households, the director occasionally reminds you that Agnisakshi is also about a mysterious serial killer.
The makers don’t make an effort to improvise the original franchise – the costumes, the characterisation and the treatment look odd in the Telugu milieu. The tropes of an uncle wreaking havoc on a woman and an uptight mother-in-law strangling a household with her archaic ways are so done to death on the small screen and it’s shocking how they’ve found their way into the streaming world.
There’s no doubt that the OTT bosses feel the pinch in churning out new shows and feeding their viewer base throughout the year but it’s high time they look beyond remakes, given how audiences have overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles. Most importantly, Aashiyana had nothing pathbreaking in it to merit a remake.
The reality remains that the digital world is need of serious re-imagination and offer an alternative to cinema and television.
Music and Other Departments?
Abu and Kalyan Dutt’s music score is painfully over the top, trying to override the core intent of the sequences and hardly making any impact. In terms of narrative coherence, the show is all the place and lacks consistency in the storytelling. The 25-minute episodes are ideal, but what’s the point if they don’t make sense at all? The lavish, larger-than-life setting is easy on the eyes though it can’t mask the show’s shallowness.
Highlights?
Unique blend of crime and family drama
Interesting aspects to Gouri’s characterisation
Crisp episodes
Drawbacks?
Perfunctory performances
Over-the-top storytelling
Absence of any effort to adapt a show to the Telugu milieu
Did I Enjoy It?
Not at all
Will You Recommend It?
Absolutely, not
Agnisakshi Series Review by Binged Bureau
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