‘Naagin 4’ Premiere: Highs & Lows of The First Episode

Suspension of disbelief is what the Naagin franchise has thrived upon and with every passing season, it has seemingly upped the ante of that feeling. So instead of doing a review per se, I would like to just highlight the highs and lows from the premiere episode of Naagin 4
.

Suspension of disbelief is what the Naagin franchise has thrived upon and with every passing season, it has seemingly upped the ante of that feeling. So instead of doing a review per se, I would like to just highlight the highs and lows from the premiere episode of Naagin 4.

Highs

If not anything else, almost every principal character is given a quintessential heroic entry as you can imagine. Be it Sayantani Ghosh and Shaleen Bhanot’s storyline from 25 years earlier, or Jasmin Bhasin, Vijayendra Kumeria & Nia Sharma’s storyline from 25 years later, all these characters have gotten a stellar entry with a fantastic build-up.

Sayantani Ghosh as the centerpiece of this puzzling storyline is absolutely phenomenal. You know you have to be over the top (OTT) when you’re on the small screen but the possibility of that get annoying happens almost every time. That isn’t the case here as in a mere 25 minutes of her screen time, she not only gets to play different layers of her character Manyata, she does so with utmost conviciton. In instances, where she has to do the Lion King-esque move of raising her child, she sells it.

Surprisingly, the storyline, which is a mixed bag of several films that you have seen over the years is rather impactful for the viewers who love the Naagin franchise. Of course, nothing about this plot is original as it is a straight-up amalgamation of some Bollywood films from the 90s and maybe a couple of them from early 2000s – but the mixture that it turns out to be is popcorn entertainment fo the fans out there.

Lows

Even though a given but the CGI continues to be a major low for the series yet again. The idea of having a suspension of disbelief would be facilitated a lot more if the CGI would be worked upon better. The snakes continue to feel caricaturish as they have in the previous seasons.

Jasmin Bhasin’s impact as the vengeful Nayanthara is not a problem, where in fac,t she looks the part and has good emotions too. However, the whole thing becomes lackluster when she mouths her dialogues. This is to no fault of her own as the decision of having a different voice for her dialogues is an absolute low. Whatever the reason was for doing this or it’s changed only for the introduction, it doesn’t work.

The supporting cast goes on and on and on. The show has already had a history for presenting a large cast in the past but that has taken to another notch here where actors just keeping popping in from nowhere constantly. This may turn out to be the classic case of too many cooks spoiling the broth soon. Fortunately, the show will get to business soon with the principal roles.

Which high or low do you agree with? Leave in your comments below.