What Is the Story About?
Prime Video India’s latest Indian original series ‘Shehar Lakhot’ is set in the backdrop of a fictional marble-mining town in Rajasthan, named Lakhot. Fixer-negotiator Devendra Singh Tomar (Priyanshu Painyulli) must return to the town he was banished from, to negotiate with a bunch of tribals who are determined to stop greedy corporates from mining on their ancestral land. Their leader is Vikas Kachdaar (Chandan Roy), while primary stakeholder is local bigwig, Kairav Singh (Chandan Roy Sanyal). What follows is murder, mayhem and intrigue in the back of beyond.
Shehar Lakhot is written by Navdeep Singh and Devika Bhagat, and directed by Navdeep Singh.
Performances?
Shehar Lakhot is studded with compelling performances. Priyanshu Painyuli is very good as the largely misunderstood Devendra Singh Tomar, aka Dev. Manu Rishi Chadha is spunky and entertaining as the morally bankrupt cop. Kubbra Sait as SI Pallavi Raj brings gravitas to her character. Chandan Roy is superb as the highly educated tribal leader, Vikas Kachdaar.
Shruthy Menon is passable as Sandhya, aka Sandy. Manjiri Pupala and Sanjay Shiv Narayan are both terrific as sadistic siblings, Bhi and Bho. Kashyap Shangari is decent as Jayendra Singh Tomar, as is Shruti Jolly, who plays his wife, Vidushi.
Amidst all the performances, however, the pick of the lot is most certainly Chandan Roy Sanyal as the ruthless, remorseless Kairav Singh. He plays the villain with such sophistication and elegance that you end up rooting for him rather than the protagonist. A brilliant performance, this one.
Analysis
Navdeep Singh burst onto the Hindi entertainment seen with his superb Manorama Six Feet Under. He established his skill with the compelling NH10. But alas, in the face of Shehar Lakhot, both those films seem like aberrations now. For Shehar Lakhot is a series that simply has nothing memorable or worth a mention in it.
The story is one that mirrors countless other crime dramas dotting the Indian OTT-scape. Lawlessness rules in the dusty, sleepy town; almost every character is morally dubious; and nothing is sacrosanct for the vulturous characters that populate the narrative. You’ll be forgiven if you remember nothing of it after a few days of watching it; or mistake it for any of the gazillion other similar shows on Indian OTT. Yes, Shehar Lakhot is as unimpressive and unimpactful as this.
The villain shoots animals and humans at will, while cocking a snook at the cops. The s*x haven he runs for the rich and famous is a cover for an operation that is as sleazy as the biggies who satisfy their carnal desires within its confines. Gay characters pepper the story; body counts rise as each episode unfolds; and every kind of criminal activity makes an appearance in the plot – drugs, money-laundering, land-grabbing, gun-running, blackmail and extortion – you name it, and Shehar Lakhot has it.
To add insult to the injury inflicted by the predictable plot are the soulless characters that abound in the series. Sundry uninteresting characters saunter in and out of the story. The script invests no effort or time to endear the characters to the audience. Not once do we root for or feel anything for them or their concerns — not for the closeted gay man who is outed in a diabolical manner, not for the reluctant fixer caught in the mess, and certainly not for the two-faced hooker who is compelled to do what she does.
To make matters worse, there is nary a shred of chemistry between the crazy-in-love fixer and the supposedly-sensual hooker. There’s no intensity in their interactions, no sexual tension, no longing, nothing to create an attraction so compelling that it draws you in without you even realising it. On the contrary, their sexual encounters get on your nerves, irritating you no end.
But guess what? It’s not the predictability of the plot that raises our heckles; nor is it the bland, uninteresting characters. What really gets our goose in Shehar Lakhot is the humongous runtime of the series – eight, one-hour episodes are just too much to tolerate. The tediousness of it gets to you after a while, so much so that are on the verge of pulling out all your hair in frustration. By the end of the series, all you want is for it to get over and be done with.
To sum it up, Shehar Lakhot is a series that had no business getting made, or passing muster at Prime Video. It’s high time content creators realise that OTT audiences have gotten desperately bored of needlessly dark crime dramas that the streaming space seems to be crawling with. Give it a miss, and rest assured that you won’t have missed anything of consequence.
Music and Other Departments?
Karan Gour’s background score for the series is upbeat, and suits the narrative well. Vishal Vittal’s camerawork for Shehar Lakhot is good. He’s captured the essence of the dusty landscape well. Nayan HK Bhadra and Suvir Nath’s editing is efficient.
Highlights?
Chandan Roy Sanyal’s Performance
Drawbacks?
Predictable Plot
Soulless Characters
Tedious Storytelling
Much Too Long
Did I Enjoy It?
No
Will You Recommend It?
No
Shehar Lakhot Series Review by Binged Bureau
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