Gyarah Gyarah (Hindi thriller web series, Zee 5)
Gyarah Gyarah is a Hindi fantasy thriller, inspired by the Korean drama series Signal.
It is a thriller that investigates crimes that span three different years in three different decades - 1990, 2001 and 2016.
The three central police characters in this tale :
- Inspector Shaurya Anthwal (1990), played by Dhairya Karwa
- Inspector Yug Arya (2016), played by Raghav Juyal
- Vamika Rawat (1990 to 2016, first as Shaurya's junior and in 2016 as Yug's immediate superior officer)
Set in Uttarakhand, you have Yug Arya, who's a different kind of police officer. He doesn't believe in the police bureaucracy. His north star is justice, rather than following orders by his superiors blindly.
Vamika is the common thread connecting both of them in a sense, but she doesn't know it yet. As Yug's senior, she doesn't know about this magical connection, and plods on diligently to solve cases by the book. She has an unrequited love for her ex-boss, Shaurya, who mysteriously disappeared one day many years ago. Vamika has been steadfastly waiting for him, rejecting all proposals that her mother painstakingly brings her way.
Yug and Vamika complement each other well. He wants to work outside the system, whereas she is very determined to work within it. But both are dedicated to justice.
One day, Yug responds to a call on a very ordinary looking police walkie-talkie. Soon, he discovers that it allows him to establish a connection with Shaurya, across a vast gap in time - at the same time each time. This connection, however, lasts for exactly one minute only. Together they work across the boundaries of time on multiple cases, starting with the kidnapping and murder of a little girl.
Since the call / connection lasts only 1 minute, and also it cannot be anticipated when the call will happen, both have to plan in advance what they want to say to each other. Especially Yug, since he is solving the cases in the present.
Shaurya was handicapped by outdated forensic technology of his time - no DNA analysis, fancy instruments that give more detailed or precise reports, etc. Yug has this advantage, and hence is able to prove certain crimes that Shaurya just couldn't in his time. This sends a ripple effect into the future which affects the present.
Time is a major factor in the series. A Cold case unit is set up after successful resolution of the first case. This gang of incorrigible, defiant police officers is given really old cases. Including a serial killer one, which had shaken up the police many years ago.
There's a law that is coming into effect that cases older than 15 years are not to be investigated anymore. So the team has to race against the upcoming statute of limitations in the very first case.
Messing with time, as expected, has unintended consequences or side effects.
When the relation of the story to the title is made clear, it is a small but delicious moment for the viewer.
Shah Rukh Khan himself has said that he has five standard expressions and he works with those limits.
By that comparison, Kritika Kamra has two.
One expression is when her character (Vamika Rawat) is in love, and one for everything else. The "in love" expression is her patent one, reserved for Shaurya Anthwal, and the remainder for the rest of the series. But she delivers her dialogues with the requisite punch.
Shaurya Anthwal (Dhairya Karwa) is a simple character. Lot of action, less thinking. He is brave and doesn't fear to tread anywhere. But detection doesn't come as easily to him. Yug's help takes him in the right direction many times.
The best of the lot is Raghav Juyal (Yug Arya). A troubled back story. A dear one dying by suicide. Being a witness to the kidnapping of the girl as a small child himself. All have left an indelible mark on him and made him what he is today. He is only after justice, by almost any means necessary.
Harsh Chhaya, such a talented actor, is criminally wasted. As the IG of Police, he is keen on doing things that are politically correct or advantageous to him and his unit rather than the right thing to do.
His philosophy is that someone has to be found guilty of the crime, and the case must be closed. Whether that person actually did the crime or not, is immaterial.
But Harsh is stuck using "b****ch**" as a punctuation symbol in every sentence (comma, full stop, exclamation, etc.). And you can make out that giving gaalis is not his forte. So it seems really forced.
Ironically his character is the only one giving cuss words, and is the sole reason why this can't be called a family friendly series.
There are flashes of brilliance, though. Brijendra Kala's portrayal of a decent man torn between duty to justice and to his loved one, touches your heart. Nitesh Pandey gives what probably was his last (or one of his last) performances, and makes you miss him. Gautami Kapoor as the grieving mother fighting for justice for her daughter, who was kidnapped and killed 15 years ago (2001), gives just the right touch to her role.
The direction is taut. Grips you most of the time and doesn't leave you feeling bored. No fancy theories about time are spun, and things are kept simple - mess with time and something else will change.
Right now only Season 1 is playing. Season 2 is strongly indicated.
In short, will definitely recommend.
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