Betaal review: hua haal behaal

What: Zombie Horror

The story of Betaal

A special task force named the Baaz Squad, led by Tyagi (Suchitra Pillai), has been deployed in the interiors of Chhattisgarh to set the area free from the Naxals. The government has given a green signal for a highway which the local villagers are against. The second-in-command Vikram Sirohi (Viineet Kumar Singh) and his deputy Ahluwalia (Ahana Kumra), along with other recruits form a team. They reach the spot and things go out of control literally on screen.

Betaal review

Netflix should seriously think about its Indian content, sometimes it gets pathetically scary. This is completely absurd. A bad dream after smoking a wrong joint or a nakli daru.

A completely zonked zombie affair that hates to care for the viewers who are already under the corona and uncertainty scare.

This weird dark date night between a jump-scare zombie show and corporate greed seems to be prepared by someone who has been betrayed on his choice of weed making him go berserk to create an epic convoluted mess.

The soldiers keep switching from human to zombie mode. There is also some cannibal element thrown in. but that’s not all, some history lessons, 1857 mutiny, East India Company to make sure that you curse your decision to watch this torture from the dead.

To be fair, the directors Patrick Graham (impressive – GHOUL previous) and Nikhil Mahajan, want to show Betaal as a cursed tale of tribals and how they have become the guinea pigs for corrupt practices in the name of developments. In fact, they go to the extent of suggesting a line made of turmeric and ash to stop the evil. It might be a metaphor for homegrown solutions, but it looks absolutely funny the way it appears on screen.

To be fair, the four-episode series by directors Patrick Graham (impressive – GHOUL previous) and Nikhil Mahajan, could have been developed in two ways. Either Betaal as the demon who gets reborn due to corporate greed or Betaal the protector of the Baaz Squad which in fact is the rebirth of the East India Company. But it’s neither here or there.

Still, honestly the 180 minutes series does possess some positives. A couple of genuine scares, fine production values, good sound effects and prosthetics.

The actors rise above the dead where Suchitra Pillai, Viineet Kumar, Aahana Kumra are compelling. Manjiri Pupala as the tribal woman is fantastic. Jatin Goswami, Ankur Vikal and Jitendra Joshi are okay.

Bottomline

No more scares. Stay safe. Avoid betaal.