Kaala web series review: An overstuffed thriller that is low on both drama and thrills

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By Prabhatha Rigobertha

18/09/2023

The story of Kaala has certain elements inspired by the recent blockbusters Pathaan and Jawan, but the experience here is far from rousing.

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Bejoy Nambiar’s Kaala moves along two parallel storylines. On one hand, you have an IB officer named Ritwik Mukherjee (Avinash Tiwary). This is set in 2018.

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This reverse hawala is being run by Naman Arya (Taher Shabbir) in West Bengal set in 1988.

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One of the few positive aspects of Kaala is the portions involving Rohan Vinod Mehra. His scenes have emotional resonance and you feel for the plight of Subhendu Mukherjee.

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The biggest problem with Kaala is the back and forth dealing with multiple characters that float in and out. Bejoy Nambiar does a lot of globetrotting, which adds no value to the series.

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The series starts with the issue of money laundering in the name of reverse hawala. But soon, that is relegated to the background.

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There is also a subplot dealing with homosexuality — involving one of the villains (Jitin Gulati). It is not just poorly placed but has been written with zero nuances.

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To sum it up, Kaala is a big black mark in the filmography of Bejoy Nambiar who is capable of doing much better stuff as we have seen in Shaitan (2011) and Wazir (2016).

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