Grahan Review: Sensitive Story Of Father-Daughter Showing The Distorted Nexus Of Society And Politics

Director: Ranjan Chandel

Cast: Pavan Malhotra, Zoya Hussain, Anshuman Pushkar

Platform: Disney Plus Hotstar

Ratings: 3.5/5 (three stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Disney Plus Hotstar’s web series Grahan is a sensitive and thought provoking tale that unfolds such a distorted nature of society and politics, centered around a police officer’s daughter, the father behind the riots, dark politics and a haunting secret. The plot, time period and characters of this story may be set in another era, but the scenes seem as if they are a thing of the past. By the way, the story of the eclipse is inspired by Satya Vyas’s novel Chaurasi. The novel was written against the backdrop of the events following Operation Blue Star in Punjab and the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Grahan Review: What Is The Story

The story of Grahan is a combination of two stories, which are intertwined with one truth and both the stories progress together in the series. The series sees Pawan Malhotra and Zoya Hussain (Amrita and Gursewak) come together as the father-daughter duo of today, while Anshuman Pushkar and Vamika Gabbi (Rishi and Manu) revive the romance of the 80s in the series. are. The story begins when Amrita Singh, a young IPS officer, is assigned a special investigation, in which she learns that her father Gursevak played a central role in the case. As the investigation progresses, new secrets emerge like layers of onions. The preparation to bake political loaves on this investigation of the police is also well seen. Although the last part of every series or film is important in itself, but the last episode of this series is really thrilling.

Grahan starts from Ranchi railway station where a freelancer journalist Santosh Jaiswal (Sridhar Dubey) has come to give a very important file to the boys of a person named Usman but the goons also want to grab this file. In this Bhagam-Bhagam, Santosh meets with an accident and that file is burnt. On the other hand, SP Amrita Singh (Zoya Hussain) investigates the case but at the same time fed up with the system, she decides to leave the job. On the third hand, the files of 1984 Bokaro riots are being reopened, the current CM Kedar Bhagat (Sathyakam Anand) chooses only SP Amrita Singh to lead this investigation.

In this connection, it is revealed that Amrita’s father, Sardar Gursewak Singh (Pawan Malhotra) is actually Rishi Ranjan (Anshuman Pushkar) and he was the leader of that riot. He had looted many shops, had also provided weapons at the behest of union leader Sanjay Singh (Tikam Joshi). Simultaneously, a parallel-flashback is also going on where Rishi and Manu aka Manjeet Chhabra (Vamika Gabbi) start losing heart at each other. While the 2016 story remains a thriller, flashbacks help lighten the romance and drama in 1984.

The Review and Script Analysis

Series comes with eight episodes, Grahan is based on author Satya Vyas’s much-loved novel Chaurasi, but there is a lot in it that is different from Chaurasi or should I say, Chaurasi has been added further. Director Ranjan Chandel seems to be struggling in the first two episodes, the direction seems to have strayed but gradually, from the third episode onwards, the story starts building a grip and the eyes are fixed on the palm of the screen. Talking about the writing, this work is mainly in the hands of Anusinh Chaudhary and Navjot Gulati, Vibha Singh and Prateek Payodhi are also present in support.

Shailendra Jha is its creator and a lot of hard work of this big team has paid off. If Chaurasi was a class novel then the script of Grahan is a plus. The direction does take a dive at some places but the climax seems to be able to clear all your grievances. Especially after watching the trailer, if questions were coming in your mind that ‘everything was shown in the trailer itself’ then know for sure that you did not see anything in the trailer.

Grahan Review: Direction And Star Performances

Ranjan Chandel’s direction is fine and a lot of attention has been paid to the small details of the series. One more thing about the series which makes it special is that no attempt has been made to lengthen it forcibly, that is, while watching it, you will not feel that what was the need of this part or portion? On the other hand, when it comes to the characters, every single actor including Pawan Malhotra, Zoya Hussain, Anshuman Pushkar and Vamika Gabbi has done full justice to their character. While Vamika’s innocence and Anshuman’s style will make you fall in love with the character, Zoya Hussain fits perfectly as a police officer. Along with this, Pawan Malhotra has once again deposited his coin even after few dialogues only with gestures.

Zoya Hussain, who leads in the account of acting, lacks a lot of expressions. She looks absolutely misfit in the role of a strong Superintendent of Police. His scenes with Pawan Malhotra are still fine but his energy is less visible in the field.

At the same time, Vamika Gabbi, who became Manu, is looking very beautiful. His big eyes are seen speaking 90% of the dialogues. His dialogue delivery, body language, everything is great. Vamika can be said to be the best choice for Manu.

Anshuman Pushkar’s look fits perfectly on Rishi. His style of speaking in Bhojpuri tone is also very good. He is engrossed in action and tragedy scenes but he also has a very small pocket of expressions.

Pawan Malhotra is the star actor of the series. His expressions, his body language are all awesome. Hardly anyone could have played the character of Gursevak better than him.

The dialogue delivery of Sudhanv Deshpande who became DIG and the dialogues written for him, both are very good. Usually they are seen talking while walking. DSP turned Shahidur Rahman’s look, his body language and dialogue delivery are all awesome. On the other hand, Sanjay Singh turned Tikam Joshi has also looked good in gray shade.

Abhinav Pateria’s comic timing is terrific. In the end, his character transformation is amazing, capable of surprising the onlookers.

Grahan Review: Plus Points

This series is related to a very sensitive matter, and many news related to it also came to light recently, where a particular religion is demanding to ban its broadcast. In such a situation, it is of course possible that there is a big difference between the point of view of watching this series and the point of view of a common audience. Before watching this series, read about the events of 1984 and Operation Blue Star from Authentic Source, so that you do not feel the erosion from the Grahan in the beginning. By the way, this series does not completely show the events of ‘Chaurasi’ but a love story hidden in it, although at the very beginning of the series it has been said in the disclaimer that it is fictional. Some of the dialogues in the series are excellent, such as:

Grahan is inspired by the book ‘Chaurasi’ by author Satya Vyas, but is not entirely based on it. The main characters of this series and the book are definitely the same, but in the series you will get to see creative liberty. However, readers who read the book may find these characters different from the ones they created themselves, so some will like them and some will not. Produced by Jar Pictures, Grahan is directed by Ranjan Chandel and its show runner is Shailendra Jha. There are a total of 8 episodes in the series, which are about 40-50 minutes long.

There is a dialogue in the series – ‘Grahan brings light along with darkness, it is a sign of change’, this dialogue also fits the series. Grahan is quite different from whatever content is being seen on OTT for some time, it is a sign of change moving forward from the same content, so this series should be watched. On the other hand, even if you have read ‘Chaurasi’, you will find this series different from it.

Grahan Review: The Last Words

Overall, Grahan is such a web series that you will surely like it if you see it as a story. But what happened in 84, who was responsible, what were the flaws in whose religion; If you fall in the trap of this, you will be disappointed. This web series is not a document of history but a means of entertainment, which is well made. Visible.