Kankhajura (Web Series)

 Kankhajura (Sony LIV) (Hindi)

"Fragile ... yet fatal".  That tagline is so true in this web series.

The word "Kankhajura" translates to centipede in English. But the English word doesn't do justice. 

In Hindi, it roughly means something that will get inside your ear, burrow inside and give you a lot of pain. 

It can even kill you.

The series is based on the Israeli series "Magpie". I haven't seen that one.

The main protagonist of the series - Ashu (Roshan Mathew) - is a man of very slight build. 

At first glance he doesn't appear to be dangerous at all. But like a centipede, it is this deceptive quality 

that he has portrayed excellently.

Ashu has a past. Served 14 years in jail for murder. The story starts with his release.

Ashu has a brother - Max (Mohit Raina). Leaving his humble beginnings behind, Max has now become a 

builder on the verge of making it big.  He has landed the rights to a huge project of opulent villas and 

apartments in a prime location of Goa.

Max is working with his old friends - Ninad Kamat and Mahesh Shetty.

He has his wife - Sarah Jane Dias - who is blissfully unaware of all his past as well as Ashu's.

However, there are many problems with the project. There's tenants to be convinced to sign off, 

environmental clearances, etc.

Whatever problems Max faces, Ashu goes and manipulates things to get them solved.

A female employee who they want to fire says she will bring their past black deeds to life. Ashu goes, 

finds out that she is an alcoholic who killed her own daughter in a car accident. He manages to 

convince her to commit suicide.

The tenants of the existing property need to be vacated. They are led by a slumlord lady - 

Deshmukh Bai (Usha Nadkarni) who is demanding far too much to get out of the way. 

The manipulations that Ashu does there border on the brilliant - psychopathic almost, but brilliant.

Other manipulations include getting a rape victim to withdraw a case against a guy handling the project's 

finances so that Max is not affected. The way he manipulates is chilling to behold.

Ashu slowly almost displaces both of Max's friends from his life. Almost, but not quite.

Ashu was ill-treated by Max and both of his friends always in their childhood. They treated him as a 

joker in the pack. Would kick him around, almost drowned him once. 

His friend keep warning Max that Ashu has a lot of pent-up rage, and that he is dangerous.

 But somehow Max has a rose-tinted view of this entire period. But later he remembers. 

All the casting is pretty good. The way Deshmukh Bai acts is delicious to watch - the veteran Usha 

Nadkarni does that with aplomb.

Max's character could have been better. Mohit Raina can act. 

But he is given a pretty one-dimensional role.

Trinetra Haldar as Aimee - the transgender "friend" of Ashu (romantic angle here) - adds a layer of 

normalization of the LGBTQ+ community in a series that is refreshing. She is woven into the story, 

not just a token character.

She loves Ashu. But when she finds out what he has done, she is disgusted and pushes him away.

The police officer (lady) - Heeba Shah, who has worked with Ashu, yet is wary of him, plays her role 

well. I just learned today that she is Naseeruddin Shah's daughter.  Another underrated gem that I 

was unaware of.

The way Ashu manipulates people is shown brilliantly. Leaning in, pretending to be their friend, and 

ultimately getting them to do what they want. All are shown perfectly.

He is fragile himself. But he is very very dangerous.

Goa as a backdrop is not used well unfortunately. There are just a couple of shots of famous places.

Otherwise you really don't feel the Goan flavor. It could have been any place for all you know.

Just for Ashu, this is worth a watch. Roshan Mathew has a string of films in Hindi, Malayalam and 

Tamil. Now I might watch at least one of them just for him :-).