STORY
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is threatened by the horror of the pandemic when the territory is infected by a mysterious disease. When hell descends and starts to take the lives of the affected, people from all walks of life struggle to survive. Solidarity embarks, families and friends get disjointed by the unwanted incidents. The medical experts and the decision-makers are muddled with such a complicated situation.
Kaala Paani, in these seven episodes, folds the viewers in the mighty scare of the widespread and makes us watch the toughest times of getting stuck in a situation where there is no escape.
REVIEW
This Netflix series brings back the COVID vibes. The entire setting of the screenplay that painfully welcomes disease precisely reminds us of the world we began to experience in 2020. Staring at people coughing in the public place, distancing from the affected ones, spraying on the doors and locks, wearing masks; it is a victory for the show that they settled the viewers with discomfort.
Kaala Paani’s writing grows in the nerves because the show runs several stories, dig in the lives of the main characters, and give us a deeper look in the complexity of human relations, their getting distanced, expressing their fear of losing someone or themselves.
The emotion code will break the viewers when they watch Kaddu struck with epilepsy, when Chiru is in state of shock receiving his mother’s ashes, when Dr. Ritu’s father is slapped in front of her, when Santosh listens to his wife’s hiccup and starts crying.
In fact, Santosh is the most heartbreaking character of the show. A husband who lost his wife, a father who lost his son, traveled with pain in quest of his daughter. Vikas Kumar has boiled his Santosh character with severe desperation. His slipping in to the hole settled our mind that he will have to overcome fear and somehow escape. And boy! what a physical performance that was. All his crying scenes were jaw-droppers.
Besides, the other standout performer was Sukant Goel as Chiru. Watch him when he offers himself to Dr. Shashi for the test and when he reacts over his mother’s demise.
Some parts of writing are very interesting. The panic in the festival was intense, so was the car almost crashing Kaddu. When water became a concern, notice the governor dropping only few drops of water on his toothpaste.
The show must be praised for its technical productions. If the series is based and shot in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, surely the camera work is one of the preferred focus. And we happen to watch some amazing shots throughout the show by Ewan Mulligan & co. Rachita Arora‘s background score, Dev Rao Jadhav‘s editing, and Biswapati Sarkar‘s writing are a few names to mention that they are responsible in the making of an excellent series.
And an Indian film or a TV show meeting a technical finishing with excellence rarely happens. But now I get to know that the show is renewed for the second season. And I cannot stop myself from admitting that I am a little impatient about the show’s return.
CLOSING REMARKS
Kaala Paani has a deeper message about the human evolution and survival. The entire defense of the governor on his action against the Oraka tribe is thought-provoking. Something inside us tell you that the failure in survival has put halt to many races and civilizations. To shape the world in the better direction or for a sustainable future, the old world has to collapse and disappear. Whether the wind of fortune takes them away or the poison of ego and hatred writes off their history. Only the strongest survives by defeating and killing the weaker. Kaala Paani just showed us the picture we do not want to see at all.
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Sami Naik | Film Critic 