Arabia Kadali Review: Satyadev powers through a familiar plot and predictable narrative

Arabia Kadali Review: It relies heavily on Satyadev’s stellar performance. He leads the charge in this real-life inspired thriller. The predictable storyline gets weighed down despite his performance.

Arabia Kadali review

Arabia Kadali Story

Nuragala Badiri (Satyadev) is a small-time fisherman from Chepalawada. During one of his fishing trips, he and his group of fishermen get caught in heavy rain and accidentally enter Pakistani waters, where they are arrested. The rest of the story revolves around how the fishermen survive the wrath of the Pakistani authorities and make their way back to India.

Arabia Kadali Review

Arabia Kadali is based on the real-life story of fishermen from the Srikakulam region in 2018. Already, Naga Chaitanya's Thandel was made on the same subject and ended as a smash hit at the box office. Arabia Kadali has been created by star director Krish Jagarlamudi, who has worked diligently on the subject, which was directed by V.V. Surya Kumar.

In Thandel, the makers added a romantic angle featuring Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi. But when it comes to Arabia Kadali, V.V. Surya Kumar keeps things more realistic and raw.

Right from the casting to the performances, Arabia Kadali takes a serious approach and showcases the plight of fishermen and what they went through in a Pakistani jail. The characters' arcs are strong and are more focused on drama. Right from the deadly scenes to the jail scenes, things have been kept quite intense and emotionally filled.

Krish is known for his intense drama in all his films and highlights this aspect more in Arabia Kadali. The jail scenes are done well, but there is no denying the fact that the show is quite predictable, and everyone knows what is going to happen next.

As the story is widely showcased in Thandel, the excitement factor is surely missing in Arabia Kadali. But it is Satyadev and his strong performance that hold your attention till the end. If not for him, the series would have been quite boring.

Director Surya Kumar takes his own time to unleash the proceedings, and this creates boredom in a few episodes. Also, the jail episodes are dragged on for no reason in a few episodes. The patriotic scenes are also routine and do not excite you much. The love track between Satyadev and Anandhi is done well, but one gets a feeling that it should have been elevated a bit more to create more drama in the series.

Coming to the performances, Anandhi gets a solid role and excels. Though she does not get much screen presence, she emotes beautifully in all the emotional scenes. Poonam Bajwa gets a key role, and she is very good in the series. From doing glam roles to a supporting act, she has done well in the series.

Nasser, in whatever character he plays, brings a lot of depth to the series. Amit Tiwari gets a good role after a very long time, and he is good in a negative role. Raghu Babu, Nihar Pandya, and others give a settled performance.

But it is Satyadev who steals the show. He is a solid actor and gives a settled performance. His character gives him a lot of scope to showcase his natural talent, and Satyadev goes full throttle. His restlessness during the jail episodes and the way he shows pain and heartbreak are the best parts of the show.

The production values of the show are good, but the VFX is a bit underwhelming, especially in the sea episodes. Vidyasagar has composed the music, and it is good. The dialogues are neat, but the screenplay is a bit dull. The drama is not elevated when it is needed the most, and this takes away from the series. Sameer Reddy's cinematography is decent in the series, but Surya Kumar's narration is just passable.

Finally, though there are not many bad moments in the show, there are also no episodes that stand out and make this show a rest from the others. All those who watched Thandel might feel Arabia Kadali is a boring series. But for those who haven't watched the show, the thriller has its moments for them to give it a shot.

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Arabia Kadali Verdict

On the whole, Arabia Kadali is just a passable thriller that is based on a real-life incident. As the show's story has been made into a film earlier, things feel predictable. But those, who haven't watched Thandel, can give Arabia Kadali a shot, as it is made on an honest note.

FAQs:

Q. Is Arabia Kadali a film or a web series?

A. Arabia Kadali is a Telugu web series created by Krish Jagarlamudi.

Q. Where to stream Arabia Kadali in Tamil?

A. The show is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Q. How many episodes are there in Arabia Kadali?

A. Arabia Kadali has eight episodes in total.

Q. What is Satya Dev's Arabia Kadali plot?

A. Arabia Kadali is an emotional drama about a group of fishermen who get stuck in international waters.

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