Never Ending Movie Carnival
Never Ending Movie Carnival
Dahan: Raakan Ka Rahasya Review: Illogical Brain Eater
What: Dahan: Raakan Ka Rahasya – award winning filmmaker Vikranth Pawar (Kaatal) spins a surreal mix of suspense, mystery, scars, horror, and what not in this illogical 9 episodes brain eater streaming on Disney+Hotstar
OTT web series Dahan: Raakan Ka Rahasya synopsis
An IAS officer Avni (Tisca Chopra) suffering from PTSD (Post traumatic stress disorder) demands an assignment in the remote Shilaspura village in Rajasthan. Shilaspura is known to be the land of occult were bad omens are kept under control through black magic. A popular mining company wants to dig for an expected metal than can change the future but the powerful pramukh of the village Swaroop (Saurabh Shukla) who is believed to have the power to control and set free the people obsessed by the evil preth atma (spirit) is against as the mining can cause crack in their holy temple and invite doom.
Dahan: Raakan Ka Rahasya – an apt title for a voodoo whodunit but this is wrapped in a weird mish match of psychological mystery body zombie cannibal horror.
This nine episodes bheja boil starts decently and till Avni reaches the mysterious Shikaspura and we are introduced to the darkness of the legend associated with Raakan, things are engaging.
The eerie mystery is maintained through the first three episodes only when things start taking those unnecessary gory and bloody turns without proper explanation and weird inclusion of science in each and everything starts spelling doom.
The tussle between the believers of black magic/ghost/evil spirits (Swaroop – Saurab Shukla and non believers – Avni (Tisca Chopra) initially shows sparks but later looses steam.
Though there is a back story behind Raakan given by the writers - Shiva Shankar Bajpai, Nisarg Mehta and Nikhil Nair (good job considering the great blunder in writing and establishing characters in Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmastra – a Disney/Star investment gone horribly wrong).
These trimurti (read group of three writers) fail to establish an engaging and thrilling screenplay around history, myth, science and religion.
On top of that versatile talents like Saurabh Shukla disappointing in a one note expression most of the times.
Tisca Chopra is just passable.
Ankur Nayyar is impressive.
Mukesh Tiwari is fantastic
It’s Rajesh Tailang who does complete justice and delivers a solid performance.
Technicalities
Technically sound, production values first rate, amazing camera work by Arkodeb Mukherjee. Naahid Shah costume designing deserves special mention. Troy Arif’s music has the local flavor.
Final words
Dahan: Raakan Ka Rahasya had the basic ingredients to be the Disney + Hotstar’s answer to Voot’s exceptional Asur: Welcome to Your Dark Side but ends up as a losing battle midway. Going with a generous 2 stars (half an extra for the making and camerawork). The series is streaming on Disney+Hotstar.
A child born from life & fed by cinema. A filmi keeda from child & a film journalist for the last fifteen years. a father, seeker, foodie who loves crooning bollywood melodies twitter.com/cineblues More By vishal verma