Never Ending Movie Carnival
Never Ending Movie Carnival
Human review: Terrific Shefali Shah, Kirti Kulhari in a terribly dithering medical scan
What: Disney Hotstar’s Human starring Shefali Shah and Kirti Kulhari is a classic case of over ambition & extra sensationalism infecting an interesting idea to such a bizarre extent that beats it profoundly to an equally surreal death.
OTT web series Human synopsis
Dr Gauri Nath (Shefali Shah) is an acclaimed neurologist who runs Manthan, her own hospital, and is well supported by her businessman husband, Pratap Munjal (Ram Kapoor). Dr Saira Sabarwal (Kirti Kulhari), a fresh cardiac surgeon joins Manthan not much to the liking of Dr. Snehal Shindey (Atul Kumar) – the head of the department and an important board member. But nothing can the city’s top surgeon can do about this as Dr Saira has come from the recommendation of Dr Gauri Nath.
Dr. Saria admires Dr Gauri Nath and is her inspiration; Dr Gauri Nath and her husband Pratap carry a reputation of responsible hotshots of the medical community who have a heart that cares and are known to for their service to humanity.
But contrary to the common believe, Dr Gauri Nath, the hospital Manthan is hiding a dark secret of illegal drug testing on poor citizens of Bhopal. But that’s not all, apart from the illegal human guinea pigs practices, there is Bhopal gas tragedy, the Begums ruling Bhopal symbolism, issues of sexual identity and hold on its still not over that weird Stepford Wives kind of experiment by a equally surreal Roma Ma (Seema Biswas) who has been with Dr Gauri Nath since childhood make it a mess of everything.
This reminds us of the times when Covid 19 just made its entry and we had no clue and were coming out with our own crazy analysis.
OTT web series Human review
Picture this – the two prime characters of this show Dr Gauri Nath (Shefali Shah) - a top neurologist struggling with her own mental health issues, Kirti Kulhari (Dr Saira Sabarwal) - a cardiologist battling with her relationship issues. The idea is striking but the 10 episode series after couple of initial episodes loses its way.
The fault lies in the execution and not the vision of creators and directors Vipul Amrutlal Shah and Mozez Singh, like one of the prime character, the show also struggles with its identity crises.
Apart from highly talented actors like Shefali and Kirti, great finds like Mardaani 2 fame Vishal Jethwa who plays the poor Mangu who gets allured by an agent to include his parents in the illegal drug trial.
Interesting characters but surprisingly very little connection is established in those 10 episodes.
And it’s surprisingly it’s the character of Mangu that finds the maximum connect.
The makers should have more skillfully exploited the ‘trauma’ issues of the principal character and avoided resorting to unwanted whims and fancies.
Performance
Shefali Shah is gifted and she is terrific but at places she seems to be under some pressure and not at ease which makes certain portion of her performance bit forced and stagey.
Kirti Kulhari is more realistic and natural but her character is not properly developed.
Seema Biswas as Roma Ma is wasted.
Aditya Srivastav as Ashok Vaidya the creator of the faulty drug is good.
Atul Kumar as Dr. Snehal Shindey shines.
Ram Kapoor is fantastic.
Veteran Mohan Agashe leaves his mark.
Aasif Khan as the activist is fine.
Vishal Jethwa is marvelous.
Sushil Pandey as Mangu's Father is very natural and their confrontation scenes are relatable.
Final words
Human has lots of things happening – the ages old never ending greed of the medical industry, illegal drug trials, Human guinea pigs, identity crises, poverty, exploitation, the demons of pollution, consumerism, with a believe that the audience will now start asking questions as they have got the identification.
So, let’s start throwing them with answers which in reality they have never imagined and/or are in a position to ask.
By the time the audience starts questioning, Humans has already succumbed under it’s over dose of ambition and treated itself with a bizarrely catastrophic end.
Going with 2 stars in generosity for the marvelous acting displays.
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