What Is the Story About?
Netflix’s latest original series ‘Kaala Paani’ is set in the backdrop of the relatively isolated Andaman And Nicobar Islands. A mysterious disease is spreading on the islands, and killing people in droves. Can a do-gooder doctor (Mona Singh), her colleagues (Chinmay Mandlekar, Radhika Mehrotra) and a few others save the land, its indigenous people, and the helpless citizens from the killer epidemic, power-hungry corporates and selfish stakeholders?
Kaala Paani is created by Biswapati Sarkar; written by Biswapati Sarkar, Nimisha Misra, Sandeep Saket, and Amit Golani; directed by Sameer Saxena and Amit Golani; and produced by Posham Pa Pictures.
Performances?
Mona Singh is terrific as Soudamini Singh, Chief Medical Officer of the islands. Her strong performance and compelling screen presence set the ball rolling for the story to unfold. Amey Wagh is superb as SDPO Ketan Kamat. He makes you hate him and love him with equal measure, ample testament to his acting skills.
Ashutosh Gowariker as Admiral Zibran Qadri, Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Vikas Kumar as Santosh Savla, Chinmay Mandlekar as Dr Mahajan, Arushi Sharma as Jyotsana, Radhika Mehrotra as Dr Ritu Gagra, Priyansh Jora as Vinayak Prabhu, among others, are equally good. Veena Nair, Virendra Saxena, Poornima Indrajith make their presence felt.
But ultimately, it is Sukant Goel as Cheeru, aka Chiranjeevi Prabhu, that is the real scene-stealer in the series. He sinks his teeth into his delectably meaty role he’s with effortless ease. His crisp bracing performance is nuanced, affecting and memorable.
Analysis
Kaala Paani is that rare Indian series that gets all the elements of an environmental thriller just right. The story sucks you in right from the get-go, unfolding with an urgency and pathos that reminds one of Hollywood’s ‘Contagion’. The first few episodes of the series establish the characters and narrative well, keeping you at the edge of the seat with the twists and turns they take.
Soon, however, the story starts getting draggy and overdrawn, meandering into tedious territory. Frequent flashbacks that recount the back-stories of each character bog down the pace of the storytelling. The next few episodes become repetitive and middling, compelling us to hit the fast forward button more frequently than we would like to.
The pace and intrigue pick up again in the final two episodes, and the series ends on a heart-thumping note. Notably, despite the draggy middle half, the writers manage to keep us invested in the story throughout the series, with well-timed twists, a few shocking turns, and most significantly, thrilling character arcs for each character.
By the time the series ends, bad guys turn into do-gooders, good guys go rogue, a key character is dead, while another has turned into a raging, murderous maniac. Interestingly, all of it happens in a gradual, steady, organic way, with well-reasoned, nuanced writing guiding it along.
The characterisations are superb. Even minor characters are bestowed with well-written roles; major characters, of course, are written with a deft hand. The Orakas, the fictional indigenous tribe depicted in the series, are superbly written too. Kaala Paani is perhaps the only Indian content that gets the nuances of an indigenous tribal life right.
The writers also use the story-arc of the characters to touch upon sensitive subjects – caste discrimination, the plight of doctors being beaten up by irate relatives of patients, the lasting trauma of kids who are physically abused by overly strict parents; the distances created between people by the pandemic; and so on. All of it woven into the storyline brilliantly, without resorting to preachiness.
That said, Kaala Paani is not all perfect. It has its flaws too, quite a few of them, in fact. For one, the series is too long. Eight episodes, each more than an hour long, are a bit much. Shorter, crisper storytelling would have had a deeper impact than the current overdrawn story. Too many subplots, unnecessary flashbacks, several needless sequences, and way too many characters make Kaala Paani quite a tedious watch.
The series is also plagued with a curious flaw – abrupt endings to sequences and disjointed storytelling. The story often jumps from a sequence to another totally unconnected one, giving a raw, unpolished feel to the narrative.
Finally, viewers beware — you are bound to feel shortchanged by Mona Singh’s character of Dr Soudamini Singh. We won’t mention how, for fear of giving out spoilers. But believe us, it’s a major dampener. To sum it up, Kaala Paani is a well-written, well-acted drama that could have done with a tauter script. But it is definitely worth a watch, albeit with a firm finger on the fast-forward button.
Music and Other Departments?
Rachita Arora’s background music is superb. It conveys the urgency and in intrigue of the story well. Ewan Mulligan, Barny Crocker and Dhananjay Navagrah’s cinematography is mesmerising. It captures the verdant topography brilliantly. Dev Rao Jadhav’s editing needed to be sharper. Rakesh Yadav’s production design enhances the storytelling.
Highlights?
Performances of the lead cast
Well-written characters and dialogue
Intriguing, innovative story
Drawbacks?
Too long and overdrawn
Unnecessary subplots, needless sequences, too many inconsequential flashbacks
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes, except for the length
Will You Recommend It?
Yes, as a one-time watch
Kaala Paani Series Review by Binged Bureau
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