Andhera Review: Knew how to start, forgot where to stop

Andhera Review: The problem with Amazon Prime Video’s Andhera is not novelty or ambition, there is ample, and even a great idea, it is overindulgence that creates the mess.

Andhera Review

Andhera Review: Story – A young woman, Bani Baruah, one night makes a distress call to her father before she disappears, never to be found again. Her death triggers a suspicious series of events that hint at a supernatural episode. Soon, Jay Seth (Karanvir Malhotra) gets involved, as his brother Prithvi (Pranay Pachauri) is in a coma, and he knows that the darkness (Andhera) has consumed him. Jay, Rumi (Prajakta Koli), and Inspector Kalpana Kadam (Priya Bapat) must now find where the Andhera has entered their lives from and save their world from being consumed by the supernatural entity that aims to consume the world and rule it. Will Andhera win? Or will hope still stay alive? Only time will tell.

Andhera Review:

As clichéd as this might sound, the lane of visual entertainment has somewhere started healing, and one of the prime examples is how well horror as a concrete genre is being explored across the world yet again by filmmakers who don't want to add fillers to it to make it palatable. Be it the beyond-perfection Sinners, the recently released Weapons, or our representation in the movement, the near-perfection Amazon Prime Video show Khauf. For a genre that was exploited and shaped into something not true to what it was for years, this feels like a good time to be an audience. At such a crucial turn comes the latest horror show, Andhera, also streaming on Amazon Prime Video. That a show is considering mental health as a central plot, weaving a horror tale around it, is indeed interesting. Andhera is a bulletproof idea that is intriguing and immersive until it stops being exactly those things, and that is where the ship sinks.

Created by Gaurav Desai, who, by the way, was a creative director on Ronit Roy’s Adaalat, Andhera is fresh in its idea. In the world of ‘Horrex’ and ‘Horror Comedies,’ it tries to stick to horror and tell a story without added padding to keep the audience onboard, and it still manages to keep the audience on board. In an urban city, darkness is consuming people, and there is no trace left for anyone to figure out what happened. It is all poetic until someone finds out the darkness is a real supernatural entity and that it is actually killing people. To envision something like this in an urban city like Mumbai and make one believe in this idea is itself a struggle. Gaurav makes sure he takes this challenge and gives us a story that is not just believable but is also layered enough for us to stay with it.

The idea of Andhera is folded and very complex. These layers unravel and show themselves at various points to keep one invested. The idea is to look at the horror that is not just supernatural but also real. Depression pushes people to do things, mental health is not something you ignore, there is so much that Andhera packs. With this, there is another layer of a world like Upside Down. All of this is brought together very well. The pacing in the initial episodes makes way for immersive storytelling, as everyone gets the time to tell their side of this story and evolve as characters.

What is also interesting is how this world is connected and woven. One clueless knot leads to a string with many other knots that are, in a way, connected to one another. The idea with the connection is to make the characters fight their past demons. Just like Khauf, what is to be dreaded is the demon that sits within more than the one that lurks out and around these characters. Yes, the ghost is ugly, but the past is uglier, and they must all face it no matter what. Gaurav Desai’s idea is so potent and fresh that it sucks you in and keeps you hooked for at least the first four episodes.

Also Read: Andhera OTT release date: Here's when and where you can stream the supernatural horror series

However, it keeps you hooked until it doesn't. Andhera is a victim of overindulgence, and one can see why the indulgence is so evident because the idea is lucrative. But one cannot also ignore it. While talking about the central conflict will be a spoiler, after the main reason is shown, Andhera keeps spiralling around it for two long episodes without really hitting the bull’s-eye. The desperation to stretch it is so visible that one thinks—was it a mandate to make the show eight episodes long? The virtue of knowing where to stop and where to say cut is completely missing at a point, and that is where Andhera stops being the brilliant show it aspires to be at the beginning.

There are so many interesting plot devices loaded in there. Be it finding the answers in comic books and folklores from heartland India, or even the fact that a wardrobe is the epicentre of this tragedy (which is forgotten midway), or how there is a complete alternate universe people need to be pushed out from, Andhera is so good with its ideas. But then it also kills that very vibe with some not-so-great decisions. It just randomly has two people fall in love like they knew each other’s sexuality all this time, or how, at one point, it shows a character staging their own death, that too by a bullet in the head. The sad part is, a police inspector sees their body and doesn't figure out that they are not dead. Or when the show randomly ends the arc of the character played by Vatsal Seth. Andhera takes a whole lot of lazy decisions by the end.

Talking about performances, Karanvir Malhotra is impressive as a man who is living in guilt and needs to find answers. While his emotional outburst doesn't feel organic, the actor certainly is talented. Prajakta Koli is definitely evolving as an actor, and this is the right step. She plays Rumi very effortlessly. So does Priya Bapat, who, hands down, is the most seasoned actor in this cast. Priya manages to bring out the loneliness and urgency so well.

Technically, Andhera is very good. Except for the very amateur CGI during sequences involving blood and slashing, the visuals are pretty good and very intriguing.

Andhera Review: Final Verdict –

The problem with Amazon Prime Video’s Andhera is not novelty or ambition; there is ample, and even a great idea, it is overindulgence that creates the mess.

Andhera is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Stay tuned to OTTplay for more reviews like this and everything else from the world of streaming and films.

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