In spite of the bizarrely unoriginal CGI scenes.
In times, where we continue to either marvel or disgust upon the constant bombardment of supernatural thrillers, one may think that Zee TV’s latest installment, Haiwaan is just another addition to that list. However, just like leading man Param Singh clarified in one of his interviews, it is actually not.
Even though Haiwaan catapults around a particular monster/creature, the show is not a supernatural thriller. So what else exactly is it? Here’s my review on watching the premiere episode of the show.
What Is It About?
What begins as a rather cliched structure actually gets surprisingly dastardly with minutes passing by. The base plot of the series is not as difficult to follow but continues to get layered ahead. In simple language, the show is about Randhir (Param Singh), who is pitted against Jia Garewal (Gayathri Iyer) as they have a history against each other owing to their respective fathers. Randhir’s father, (Hiten Tejwani) was the good man trying to create a ‘Superhuman’ for the world while, Jia’s father, Govind was the bad man who obviously wanted to destroy everything and only look at his personal interest in the same. Thus a ‘haiwaan’ (monster) is created and is let loose by the latter whenever willing to kill someone.
Taking their age-old enemyship forward, Randhir is willing to fulfill the promise he gave to his dying father of saving the world from the current haiwaan’s wrath while Jia (along with her father’s assistance) continues to invoke madness and also create a new haiwaan. Being put in the mix is a loyal friend, Ansh (Ankit Mohan) and the newly appointed SP of the city, Amrita Sharma (Ridhima Pandit) making thigs interesting.
What Works
Surprisingly, it is the plot of the show is its biggest winner. In the first few minutes, when Hiten’s track is going on you are not involved in the show right away. The reason for that is how that track is one of the most cliched plotlines to ever come across. Fortunately, the story progresses in a better way where Randhir and Amrita’s (Ridhima Pandit) characters do have several layers to themselves.
The actors of the show do a great job with whatever is provided to them. The whole reveal about how Randhir is a drunkard and casanova only for the world to see him like that was quite interesting. Similarly, Ridhima shines as a no-nonsense cop who is determined to know the cause of constant murders and has a mellow side with her father and grandmother. Ankit Mohan as Ansh doesn’t have too many layers to portray in the first episode but as we know he is going to be the one being infected with a virus, he will have other things to do in the future episodes. In spite of the stereotypical origin, Hiten Tejwani shines in his cameo before eventually dying.
What Doesn’t Work
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone but the VFX and haiwaan scenes are shoddy and absolutely ridiculous. And this shouldn’t have anything to do with how this is the small screen because that isn’t a fair reason. For a change, the show does have a good plot to work on, so the least it can do is better the CGI scenes.
Even though the story is good, there are so many loopholes that go unanswered even before being explored. For example, just how did little Ansh land up on the scene where Hiten’s character died and saved Randhir to the fact that Hiten’s character died by just a dash into the wall whereas Govind survived a fatal fall from an under-construction apartment. Preposterous and unsolved.
The Verdict
In spite of the obvious flaws that the show possess and massively shoddy CGI, the show does a great job with its main storyline and manages to have your intrigue as a viewer. You will surely be invested with the saga.