Who are some of the most quirky characters from Hindi cinema? Remember Soorma Bhopali from #Sholay or Kanta Ben from #KalHoNaHo? #Munnabhai MBBS has the loveable #RustomPavri and #JohnyLever made Aslam Bhai immortal. #ShootoutatLokhandwala went one step further and made Ganpat, a fictional character popular! I think writers often get carried away with such characters and dream about dedicating a full show or movie to their quirkiest characters.
ASHOK’s FIVE reviews season 1 of #Sunflower starring the redoubtable #SunilGrover, now streaming on #ZEE5. At one level this is a classic whodunit and on another it is a delightful mix of brilliant characterisation. One murder, two likely suspects but a whole lot of red herrings, suspense and an investigation that keeps throwing up surprises along the way. Each character is sketched out brilliantly but in the final analysis, the narrative seems very skewed and lets you down. In some ways the overt emphasis on creating the quirky characters seems to have had collateral damage on the storyline itself.
Funnyman #SunilGrover plays Sonu, a sales manager who live in the Sunflower society. The story begins with the murder of Raj Kapoor who is an inhabitant of the society. We are led to believe that the murderer is Ahuja (#MukulChadda) but the investigation by Inspectors Digamber (#RanvirShorey) and Tambe (#GirishKulkarni) keep throwing up twists. So is there a third angle to the murder? #Grover and #Shorey stand out for brilliantly essaying their roles . What's interesting is that the show has the supporting cast also dishing out great performances. #AshishVidyarthi plays Dilip Iyer who is part of the society association and plays the moral guardian. The writers use his character to lambast conventional and patriarchal views towards religious biases, homosexuality, singles and divorcees.
Somewhere in the beginning itself, you hear the dialogue “Hum Ek Guthi nahi Suljha paa rahe hain” .. an ode to the character made immortal by #Grover on the #ComedyNightswithKapil show. I am not sure if they were trying to be ‘clever’ with that but full marks for #SunilGrover - he makes his character funny, endearing and eccentric.
#GirishKulkarni and #SimranNehurkar as Tambe and Kapoor’s wife shine in their roles. Fans of the cult classic show #Nukkad will be glad to see Khopdi (#SameerKakkar) in the role of the cantankerous elder.
Directors #RahulSengupta and #VikasBahl do manage to create a lot of intrigue in the first couple of episodes with the writing and the characterisation. As the show progresses though , things tend to get a little tedious and one is left wondering where things are headed. I am not sure how many viewers will return for season 2 but do hope that that the plot finds salvation then!
Comments