“For she had eyes and chose me.” – Othello, William Shakespeare
MELBOURNE, 25 January 2022: The title of the series inspired from SRK’s 1993 Baazigar’s song, “Yeh Kali Kali Ankhein…”, sets the tone for this 8 episode series 1, with its tune in the background humming amid creator Siddharth Sengupta’s pulpy tale. The flashback story 40 minutes each episode in a fictional lawless UP town Omkara has all the ingredients the OTT audience falls for. Shot in Omkareshwar, temple town two hours away from Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Bhopal, Laddakh…, the series gives the flavor of stories one read in ‘Satyakatha’, the popular pulp-stories novel type Hindi magazine available in India’s railway bookstalls years back.
Vikrant (Tahir Raj Bhasin) lives his own life with flame Shikha (Shweta Tripathi). His dad (Bijendra Kala) works for the local politician-gangster Akeraj (Saurabh Shukla). The politician’s daughter Purva (Anchal Singh) was Vikrant’s schoolmate and has an obsession with him. It’s a craze that drives the theme of the story. Vikrant gets a job but is forced by his father to work with Akeraj, where Purva sees him and the spark of love reignites. Purva’s destructive step-by-step moves to get him become a routine.
Vikrant’s resistance supported by a friend (Anant Joshi) and commitments to Shika crumble amid family and other pressures. Vikrant is now the son-in-law of Akeraj and forced attempts to integrate him into his new life fail. Vikrant is entangled in a powerful family and with their daughter. He now has to get out out of it. The later episodes (a bit sketchy) detail the nit and grit of his plans and actions. There’s a lot of action, thrill, music, and beautiful Laddakh locales. Interestingly, the story remains incomplete. So, will there be series 2?
The series has footage that could have been trimmed. The Indian/South Asian audience will like the series for its ‘masala’ approach. Swearing, sexy scenes, groovy item number, action, and so on are no more anathema on OTT platforms. Cinematography is good, especially in Laddakh. Overall, not bad.
I give it 2 and a half stars out of 5.
NAME– Yeh Kali Kali Ankhein (HINDI) with English subtitles
DIRECTORS– Siddharth Sengupta (8 episodes), Rohit Jugraj (2 episodes), Ankkitha Maithy (1 episode) & Varun Badola (1 episode)
CAST– Tahir Raj Bhasin, Shweta Tripathi, Anchal Singh, Sorya Sharma, Bijendra Kalra…
CINEMATOGRAPHY– Murali Krishna, Murzy PagdiwalA & Rahul Chauhan
EDITING: Rajesh Pandey
OTT Platform– Netflix
DURATION– About 40 minutes each episode
YEAR– 2022
RELEASE DATE– 14 January 2022
TRAILER
