'Dahaad' review: Despite powerful performances, police procedural drama bites dust
What's the story
Dahaad, created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti and directed by Kagti and Ruchika Oberoi is a slow-burn police procedural drama set in Rajasthan.
The series marries the case of multiple murdered women with multilayered social commentary about caste, class, and women's position in workplaces.
However, despite being steered by powerful performances, it moves forward with a languid pace, eventually making it needlessly stretched.
Plot
The series focuses on the murder of multiple women
Dahaad follows a chilling case of a serial killer Anand (Vijay Varma) on the loose—a man who could be just another face in the crowd who has been shrewdly fooling women, orchestrating a ploy of love with them, and then eventually killing them.
Anjali (Sonakshi Sinha), Devilal (Gulshan Devaiah), and Kailash (Sohum Shah) are entrusted with investigating the twisted case while racing against time.
Positive 1
The show's rootedness helps draw the viewer in
Dahaad has several solid blocks that make it stand upright: a career-best act by Sinha, a plot set in the heartland of India, and a tried-and-tested serial killer trope that has the potential of birthing endless twists.
The setting, tension, drama, and complexities look largely authentic and all the actors excel with their Rajasthani accents, swooping us into the story right from the get-go.
Positive 2
Its commentary on societal issues is another pertinent takeaway
Dahaad's choice to not just focus on its mystery but also rip off the veneer of Indian society is laudable, and the show does it both ways: sometimes by being subtle, sometimes by being too blunt.
There is commentary on the nexus of politics, caste, and the male gaze and Dahaad inspects how deaths become a game of repute when the victims are women.
Positive 3
It subverts gender tropes vis-a-vis the portrayal of patriarchy
Dahaad's ability to constantly nod toward the setting it's so firmly rooted in also emanates from the way it portrays how casual sexism operates in our surroundings.
Despite her professional abilities, the bug of marry-by-a-certain-age bites Anjali, and in another instance, gender tropes are subverted as Devi's wife tries to stop their daughter from venturing out of the city for a sports event.
Positive 4
Sinha's simple look goes well with her character
Sinha sports a no-makeup look, which syncs with her character Anjali: she pulls all-nighters and hardly ever goes home.
This attention to detail, coupled with the aforementioned accents, aid in laying the groundwork for Dahaad.
Another trick it smartly uses is when characters call each other by surnames: seemingly trivial on the surface, yes, but people can't perhaps shake each other's "real" identities off.
Negative 1
Negatives: What's with the extremely long runtime that needed editing?
For all its merits, Dahaad's beauty is blotted by blemishes.
The biggest culprit is the runtime and the length: eight episodes timed each at about 50 minutes are a lot to sit through, especially when the series is a slow-burn drama and not a fast-paced edge-of-the-seat narrative.
Moreover, it's not a whodunnit, so there's no cause-and-effect to keep your grey cells constantly working.
Negative 2
It becomes difficult to focus on the sub-plots at times
There is just too much happening all at once and the story of each kidnapped/murdered woman is not always given plenty of time to settle down, so it sometimes seems like it has been thrust down our throats out of nowhere.
This forges the path to confusion because you are asked to simultaneously keep track of multiple sub-plots, backstories, and victims.
Negative 3
The thrill and suspense are mostly a no-show
Multiple episodes don't always mean that they'll be packaged with suspense and substance and Dahaad falters the most here.
You have to lower your expectations after two episodes and wait for a while to witness a payoff of sorts.
The gripping suspense/thrill thread that should tie everything together is irreparably broken and a scene's preceding and succeeding events even seem to be the same!
Negative 4
Backstories do not help the characters or the show
The terribly languid pace of the series ensures that almost nothing happens for multiple stretches at a time and this stops Dahaad from falling into the binge-watchable category.
When backstories are added to projects, they often provide a layer of humanity to the characters, but somehow the undercooked, raw backstories of the cops here only prolong the runtime and are hardly a noteworthy add-on.
Verdict
Eventually, 'Dahaad' demands your utmost attention and patience
Though all the actors turn in surefooted performances, Varma's sinister act was far more bloodcurdling in Darlings, despite it being a film (hence, shorter runtime).
Sometimes, less is more.
Dahaad has a strong premise and discusses some blistering Indian issues, but its parts work better than the whole.
It closes with a contrived finale, making one eventually wonder: "What the fuss was all about?"