Search Series Review: Konkona Sen Sharma fades away in a murder-mystery that never comes alive

Search Series Review:

A teenager is brutally murdered under mysterious circumstances. Her loud college bestie, a desperate ex and his scandalous friends are suspects. A sharp investigator teams up with an oversmart rookie to solve the crime. Originality is not a virtue that Konkona Sen Sharma’s Search: The Naina Murder Case can ever claim, being an official adaptation of the acclaimed Danish series, The Killing (2007). The idea is simple: take an eighteen-year-old story from a different culture and put it in an Indian setting. It is, after all, a murder-mystery, a genre that is as universal as a type-C charger. It’s just that, Rohan Sippy’s Search, tries to force fit it into a Nokia headset.

The sensibilities feel dated; the world-building appears obscure and the visuals seem to have been emulated just to match a certain look. It doesn’t quite lead to thickening the plot or accentuating tension. The story, even though taken from a rich source material, starts behaving like a CID episode. The only respite comes in the journey of the protagonist, ACP Sanyukta Das (Konkona), who is clinical in her approach of investigating the murder of Naina Marathe, a 16-year-old living in Navi Mumbai. The brutal murder ruins Sanyukta’s plans of shifting cities and changing her department to make time for her family and give another chance to her troubled marriage. Instead, on her supposed last working day, she is teamed up with an arrogant, rookie cop, Jai Kanwal (Surya Sharma), to investigate the case after a young politician, Tushar Surve (Shiv Pandit) is linked to the murder.

Directed by: Rohan Sippy

Starring: Konkona Sen Sharma, Shiv Pandit, Surya Sharma, Varun Thakur, Dhruv Sehgal and Shraddha Das

Streamer: JioHotstar

The investigation unfolds rather straightforwardly. Sanyukta and Jai speak to Naina’s parents, teachers and friends to gather more information. The teenagers conveniently become their worst stereotypes, with phone addiction, severe anti-social behavior and an intense drug problem. There is no effort to connect with their angsty psyche which is merely used as a showpiece to describe their whole being. It is also repeatedly reflected in how Sanyukta’s daughter speaks contemptuously to her without a touch of respect in her tone. Whereas the mother’s insecurities are fueled by the facts coming out of the developing investigation. The writers are satisfied in only imagining scenes where Sanyukta is being criticized by everyone, including the rookie cop. She doesn’t really strike back with reason, but merely takes what is being said on face value. There is no real emotional complexity to her. It is all just conveniently built to give an impression of creating layers when much of it comes out as being jarringly unidimensional.

Director Rohan Sippy begins the first episode with some promise. There is a glimpse into a fun banter that seems to develop between Sanyukta and Jai, that has potential to tune-in timely gags in an otherwise grim narrative. The flair, however, wears out soon. There are no real stakes in the relationship between the two. It neither grows into that of mutual respect nor turns completely into a mess. It is the treatment that stays astoundingly confused on what exactly to be. The geography feels out of place. What is repeatedly conveyed through dialogue to be Navi Mumbai ends up resembling Delhi more. The environment becomes generic with the locations serving merely as a footnote to the story rather than adding to the darkness and intrigue.

This lack of control and grit extends to the performances, which oscillate between being worryingly melodramatic—seen in Iravati Harshe and Sagar Deshmukh as the grieving parents—and strictly substandard in the cases of Konkona and Surya. The show doesn’t feel as different in its appeal than the other Hotstar crime-dramas helmed by Rohan, including Shekhar Home (2024) and Criminal Justice, which are similar, flavorless adaptations of far more superior pieces of work. There is more mechanism to his filmmaking than substance along with an urgent lack of any coherent style. A murder-mystery after all, needs a sharper setting to aid the surprises which it hides. The suspense needs to be gradually built through a careful interplay of sound and visuals. The thrill has to be interspersed with an equivalent sensorial release through the emotions. It should unfold sparingly while generating a genuine impatience to know the answers. It cannot just be white noise.