#SaifAliKhan as Samar Pratap in a dapper white Nehru jacket gives you a knowing smile that borders on the sinister. #DimpleKapadia as Anuradha Kishore has a smile that is even more cunning. #MohammedZeeshanAyyub as the student leader does not ever smile. #GauharKhan as Maithili Sharan has a sweet smile but that's deceiving. #SarahJaneDias as Samar’s wife smiles at the wrong time. And #SunilGrover as Gurpal does not smile but guffaws when he has killed someone. And finally you smile at a clumsy looking #DinoMorea the Professor. Throw in a farmer protest, a university called VNU and some political maneuvering and some inane writing and there you go!
ASHOK’s FIVE reviews #Tandav, the nine-episode political drama on #AmazonPrime. It’s making news for all the wrong reasons but let's just say that this is one biriyani that has all the ingredients but they forgot to light the fire.
#AliAbbasZafar and writer #GauravSolanki has put together a cast that can potentially punch above their weight. Besides #Saif, #Kapadia and #Ayyub and the others, there is #TigmanshuDhulia, #KrithikaKamra, #AnuupSoni, #SandhyaMridul and the versatile #KumudMishra.
I am not sure what the narrative is centered on in the first place. There are a host of political characters who are willing to murder to get ahead. Then there is a farmer protest . Also a student university named Vivekananda National University (VNU), which leaves not a shred of doubt in your mind that it is modelled on JNU. Then there is the caste politics. And a professor who has a physical relationship with a student, The student leader hails from Bihar and the female lead is a Muslim. The students put up shouts for Azaadi at their congregations! In between all this, there is a woman who acts as secretary to a politician and has her own agenda. And finally throw in a diabolical figure who is mercenary and intriguing. I wasn't sure which track to follow or which character to engage with in this masala mix.
The writing itself seems all over the plot. I wonder if the surfeit of web series on offer over the last few months is now going down the path of mediocrity. #Tandav has a bit of everything - there is political dissent, espionage, police brutality and student politics. It is almost as if you look at earlier works in the sphere of political drama like #Rajneeti and ensure that you have a bit of everything. On top of it, the characters are uni-dimensional, the execution is poor and the sequencing looks all over the place. Political dramas are often replete with powerful dialogues; surprisingly even that is woefully lacking in this show.
If there is one reason to watch #Tandav though, it is #SunilGrover and his safari-suit brand of diabolism. He wears dark glasses, drinks like crazy, lights up a cigarette every five minutes and has a very quirky fondness for cats. A far cry from his mimicry and comic roles but it works. You almost wait for his sequences as you sit through the show on the edge of your patience.
Perhaps a good word for the acting too. #DimpleKapadia shines briefly and so does #ZeeshanAyyub as the student leader Shiva Shekhar. The problem is not really the acting and as I reflect on it some more, I think the actors have done a great job in spite of the characterisation. A special word of praise for #KumudMishra, another underrated actor who does a phenomenal job as the oily and wily politician Gopal Das Munshi.
The larger issue, though, is that #Tandav does not provide you any material takeaways. There are no real insights on politics in the country or the way the political minds work. There is nothing significant on the dynamics of student politics and neither is there anything on religion and caste. So in summary, the show lets you down because it is purely transactional and there is no research or insight to back up the narrative. What makes matters worse though, is the fact that some of the plots go around in distinct circles and do not facilitate progression of the linear narrative. Some of the scenes are actually quite juvenile. The scene where Maithli is dropping off the cash into a dustbin in the vicinity of South Block is pathetic. There are no cameras, no security folks and no one at all ! How convenient is that!
#Tandav is mediocre, period. The acting shines because of the actors and in spite of the writing. I just hope that the OTT revolution that has enabled a lot of new and radical work to find its own does not succumb to mediocrity and populism. That would be a pity!
