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Kaala review: Intriguingly Intense Crime Noir
What: Kaala - Shaitan, Wazir fame Bejoy Nambiar gets into the league of OTT crime noir after the impressive Taish.
Kaala synopsis
Ritwik Mukherjee (Avinash Tiwary) is an honest IB officer investigating a huge reverse hawala racket. As Ritwik gets into the underbelly of the criminal world thanks to tips from an unknown caller Shubendhu (Rohan Vinod Mehra). Ritwik goes through series of disclosure and unexpected facts that are strangely related to his life and the accused of the money laundering racket life Naman Arya (Taher Shabbir). An incident from past involving Balwant Singh (Jitin Gulati) and Bismil (Hiten Tejwani) brings in power struggles, revenge, and morality dilemma.
Every now and then a solid OTT crime series arrives. They are so fully formed and confident that we have to ponder and treasure them. Kohraa, Farzi, The Family Man, Delhi Crimes to name some.
Makers like Bejoy Nambiar (Shaitan, Wazir) known for their taste for crime noir have finally taken the call. In 2020 Bejoy came with Taish which I liked and now he brings an intriguingly intense crime noir Kaala which is quite good but it could have been far better.
On paper the plot is about an honest IB officer Ritwik Mukherjee (Avinash Tiwary) after a reverse hawala racket who during the investigation encounters harsh facts and truth at professional and personal front.
Kohraa on Netflix by Randeep Jha in comparison was a deeper character study amidst the investigation of the murder of an NRI in Punjab.
Creator, director and writer Bejoy Nambiar with his team of writers Francis Thomas, Pryas Gupta, Mithila Hegde and Shubhra Swarup does enter the psyche of the prime characters but somehow their traits are not finely developed in couple of them for example Balwant Singh played by Jitin Gulati.
For me it was the father son struggle of identity that left the maximum impact.
The non linear narration (a routine nowadays) helps in maintaining the interest level. The 8 episode series is more of coming from the darkness to light for the protagonist Ritwik Mukherjee (Avinash Tiwary).
A dream week for Avinash Tiwary after impressing fabulously in Bambai Meri Jaan, the actor here turns gears from gangster to an honest IB officer fighting a personal battle within himself. Getting into the character with ease, Avinash displays rare sincerity in his portrayal.
Taher Shabbir as Naman Arya is rightly casted and is very effective.
Jitin Gulati gets an opportunity of a life time and he delivers a mix bag which actually harms the proceedings. That fear and anxiety part fails to jell with the personality. However the rest of the parts are impactful.
Nivetha Pethuraj as Sitara leaves her mark.
Elisha Mayor as Aloka is very good.
Rohan Vinod Mehra as Subendu is efficient.
Hiten Tejwani as Bismil is quite effective.
If you have a taste of noir crime drama then Kaala is your pick. The series is running on Disney+ Hotstar from September 15, 2023.
Please do watch our video review of Kaala in Hindi
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