What Is the Story About?
Muskaan (Anushka Sen) and Dimple (Samaira) are orphaned kids living off collecting scarps. During one such collection, Dimple discovers a DSLR camera. They take it to their friend Bichoo to use it and realize that it is password protected.
Meanwhile, the hill station of Dharmashala is seeing missing girls. A journalist Sayan Sharma is on the lookout for her missing girlfriend. He joins hands with Inspector Balaram in finding her, which is also linked with the mysterious disappearance of girls.
How Muskaan and Dimple are caught in an extraordinary circumstance due to the camera? How they help solve the mystery of missing girls is the series’ basic plot.
Performances?
Anushka Sen and Samaira playing the sisters Muskaan and Dimple, are the key players in the crime thriller. While they do not look the part they are supposed to play, they come up with a genuine act. They have a nice bond and, together with Nikhil Lulalni, give some predictable but fun events.
Anushka Sen has the better arc among the two, but Samaira, too, is alright. They work well as a pair. Nikhil is okay in the limited scope given to him.
Analysis
Nitesh Singh creates and directs the series Swaang. It is a crime thriller set in a hill station backdrop and orphanage.
Right from the start, Swaang never gets going. The grittiness is missing, which the story so badly requires. The two kids look too ‘urban’ to pass off as orphaned street kids. It is here the disconnect starts, and it remains that way until the end.
The second issue is the core thriller mystery. It involves a series of girls getting kidnapped and later found dead and also raped. It needs a serious investigation and gripping track to hold and sustain the interest. Unfortunately, that is never the case here.
There is amateurishness and silliness aplenty in how the whole investigation track is handled. Many serious turns in the narrative take place in the silliest way. It evokes unintentional laughs in execution. It is that dumb to turn a blind eye. The entire climax stretch takes the cake in this regard.
Also, one can easily guess at mastermind criminal behind the whole crime. It doesn’t come as a surprise or a big reveal. But, a neat screenplay has been written to plan the big reveal. On paper, it definitely is good with the different perspectives each time and the red herring in place. Sadly, the execution, as mentioned above, is disastrous. The bus stand sequence or the climax is just a few examples.
Overall, Swaang has a basic crime thriller plot with no real suspense. It tries to hold things together via the screenplay, but the abysmal execution derails everything. If you like the thriller genre, stay away.
Other Artists?
Anurag Sharma and Alan Kapoor play the other lead parts. They are the ‘heroes’, but none act like one. The poor writing, character arc and the silly situations they land themselves in hardly make their act register. In fact, Alan Kapoor comes across as a dumb guy after an interesting beginning. It is all due to terrible writing and execution.
Prakash Ramchandani, Mansi Srivastava and Hiten Tejwani play other critical parts. Everyone looks involved in their roles but have an impact due to the atrociously silly behaviour. The writing and the direction let them down. The rest of the characters are forgettable.
Music and Other Departments?
Meghdeep Bose provides the background score for the series. It is alright, given the low expectations based on everything else. Vishal Singh Rathore’s cinematography is weak. The series bears a very look despite featuring a scenes backdrop of Dharmashala. Ritu Basetia’s editing is neat. It gives the series a sharp quality even though the actual content is terrible. The writing is laughable in parts and pretty banal overall.
Highlights?
Setting
Screenplay
Short Run-time
Drawbacks?
Writing
Direction
Silly Situations
Did I Enjoy It?
No
Will You Recommend It?
No
Swaanng Series Review by Binged Bureau