Gyaarah Gyaarah Series Review: Raghav Juyal lacks a punch in this tiring crime thriller

Basking in the acclaim of the violent actioner Kill, Guneet Monga, Karan Johar, and Raghav Juyal return to the darker side with the police procedural Gyaarah Gyaarah. This time around, though, things have changed drastically. The scale has widened; there’s a deep facade of genre-bending as it notably combines elements of sci-fi and crime, building up a story of time travel in the hilly terrains of Uttarakhand. And no, it’s not an original story, like the one crafted by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat (co-writer and director of Kill). The series is an adaptation of the Korean show Signal (2016), and the novelty that it brings is quite apparent in the opening episode where characters from different eras talk to each other. 'Ah, it takes the road less travelled,' a thought pops up in my mind. The amazement is short-lived, though, as the show unfolds like any other run-of-the-mill thriller in the Indian OTT space that focuses more on the mundanity of an investigation than on the emotions of its characters. It’s more of a road that should not have been taken.

Raghav plays the good guy here, struggling to find his mark in the performance. His Yug Arya feels more like a cop in disguise whose cover is going to be blown any moment. Only, it doesn’t, and Raghav tries hard to become the police inspector by exhibiting uncontrolled energy, rapid talking, and incessant shouting. In a bid to appear natural and embody an everyday ease, he rather feels out of place, seeming more like a techie than an intelligent officer. The disjoint is felt right in the early portions as Yug confronts his senior, Vamika Rawat (Kritika Kamra), on his joining day. He is the link between the murder of a girl that took place 15 years ago as he happened to be a witness to it. The case is unsolved and is soon going to be closed forever, owing to a new law being passed by the courts. With time ticking, Vamika and Yug team up reluctantly to find the killer, and helping him along the way is a frail voice coming from a walkie-talkie. This is Shaurya Anthwal (Dhairya Karwa), another cop who has worked on the case in the past. He gives Yug a breakthrough as the story moves back and forth from 1990 to 2001 to 2016.

Starring: Raghav Juyal, Kritika Kamra, Dhairya Karwa, Gautami Kapoor, Harsh Chhaya, Purnendu Bhattacharya, Mukti Mohan and Gaurav Sharma

Directed by: Umesh Bist

Streamer: ZEE5

This is an interesting premise as it comes from the original show. It makes some space for larger ideas of time and its futility to be explored through the investigation. Change the past and hence avoid what is to come in the future. However, the innovative set-up is met with simplistic storytelling. The visuals by cinematographer Kuldeep Mamania show a lot of promise in creating a certain mood for the tense undercurrents, but it is the screenplay that spoils it away. The writing fails to blend character motivation with the plot. Yug appears in the show out of nowhere, without the right introduction that can make him memorable. Sudden flashes of his childhood are inserted to build a backstory, but it doesn’t connect well.

There is an extended sequence of Shaurya’s love story with a dancer, played by Mukti Mohan. Again, it comes and goes. So, when Shaurya cries and wails in anger, the intensity is not felt. Dhairya’s performance is sincere, but it is largely let down by the tonal inconsistencies in the narrative. Kritika has little emotional ground to cover, as we get to see her hitting the same notes in the Pahadi dialect for the most part. On the other hand, there is Harsh Chhaya, who plays the IG officer, mounting a Punjabi accent and giving orders to his juniors with a spate of cuss words. It feels sketchy and inorganic to see him repeat the same things in different scenes, making the character seem to have come out of impulsive improvisation rather than thoughtful brainstorming.

Directed by Umesh Bist (Pagglait (2021)), Gyaarah Gyaarah becomes all the more convoluted as it progresses. After a point, it gets tiring to see the conversations happening between Yug and Shaurya over the walkie-talkie every time the clock ticks 11:11. It is always preceded by the power going off, the wind blowing, and the sky breaking into thunder when the only thing it invites in you is a long sigh. All the shiny curtains fall pretty soon. There is nothing much left to explore. Most of it seems brazenly lost in translation.