Shoorveer review: Manish Chaudhary, Regina Cassandra, Armaan Ralhan’s performances make this Disney+Hotstar show watchable

Every performer here is more 'Dhaakad' than Kangana Ranaut and everyone in her film combined.

Shorveer.

Shoorveer

Story:

IAF ground captain Ranjan Malik (Manish Chaudhary) gathers a special team for Hawks. They are training to take over the enemy who have planted attacks all across India.

Review:

"Our aim is to make the best, better," IAF ground captain Ranjan Malik (Manish Chaudhary) is heard stating as Shoorveer commences. Only if the director had followed this dialogue while making the show, Shoorveer would have been a classic that it promised to be in the first few shots. Instead, he stays true to the dialogue, "The sharpest arrow shot in the wrong direction, can have disastrous results."

Shoorveer is one of those series that gives you a good vibe right from the beginning. Everything between action and cut is impressive. From the walk to the music, it all fits well. Unfortunately, that feeling lasts only for a short time, for when you really dig deep and discover this show, it has the same things to offer that you have been seeing since 2019. The josh was high then but two years down the line, it just fades into the impact that the movie had left.

Armaan Ralhan takes the lead in episode one as Viraj Sehgal. He manages to impress you from his first frame, even if he does nothing but a walk. This actor promises a powerful role and delivers it too. Unfortunately, though, the show seems to revolve only around him. When you have equally powerful female actors and the male lead takes the lead in everything, that is quite a sad state to be in.

Harman Singha enters the frame almost as instantly in the role of Dev. He doesn't impress you instantly and even later, there isn't much he does that helps in building his character. He borderline overacts within the first five minutes, making the rather interesting project take till then a little distracting. Our hero, Armaan, comes to the rescue. Whether the direction was intentional or accidental, no one would know.

After the introduction scene in episode 1, you would feel like you are in a whole new series. Although there is a lot of action, the dots don't really connect. Eventually, they do but at the cost of you being so distracted by the scenes moving from one frame to another that it gets hard to follow the little storyline that this show offers.

Mohit Chauhan plays the role of Indian PM. While he is not particularly stereotyped, there isn't much that this character brings to the table either. He isn’t bad in the role but is limited as an actor.

Jiten Lalwani as RAW chief Shekhar is a delight to watch. His expressions do most of the job for him. He gets into action and does a fairly good job at that too.

Makrand Deshpande as Milind Phanse, NSA, is impressive. Well, almost. Makrand is a great actor and he tries to show his acting skills here but somehow, they don't fit well with the scenes. He has a stoic expression that almost never changes. You keep hoping to see more out of him, only to end up seeing him in the same manner over-and-over.

Manish Chaudhary as IAF ground captain Ranjan Malik has a great entry. He, in a way, leads the show. This is one leader everyone should experience in their life, for they bring out the best in you by putting you through the toughest times. Of course, nobody wants such a mentor for life and so, the short (actually, not-so-short) journey is a happy journey for the viewers as well as the performers.

Kuldeep Sareen as Bhatti saab is super cute. He comes in smaller appearances but brightens up the screen every single time. If Ranjan is the bad cop, Bhatti is the good cop. They compliment each other like nobody else in the series. Not even Avantika (Regina Cassandra) and Viraj or Viraj and Salim (Aadil Khan).

This show takes pace again, slowly, after Manish's entrance. It even gets entertaining to a good extent. Thereon, it’s a constant journey between thrill, entertainment and confusion. Which emotion will overpower which, completely depends on the viewer. However, the confusion aspect is the strongest, followed by thrill.

Aadil Khan as Salim fits right into the series. He is a combo of cute and loyal. Salim is the most vulnerable of the lot. He is the weakest when it comes to controlling his emotions, which Viraj too is but manages to never show it to the face. Thus, the two’s hot-and-cold bond makes for an interesting watch.

Regina Cassandra as Avantika finally makes an appearance. She gets the screen space she deserves but a bit too late. While Regina has her chance as an actress, it is very limited, for the series focuses mainly on Armaan and his character, literally from the first frame.

Faisal Rashid plays the antagonist in this series and he is his usual scared self. Soon enough, he turns out to be deadliner than anyone on the show for obvious reasons.

Amit Bahl plays Viraj's father on the show. He has a very limited role to play in the series and so, his presence doesn’t make too much of a difference in Shoorveer.

Anjali Barot as Manju Thapiyal is cute. She brings in the fun, entertaining side required on the show. While she could appear delicate, Anjali fits right into the role.

Arif Zakaria finally appears on the show and what an entry! While the music builds his character, this actor's expressions take it to a whole new level.

The web series is equal parts entertaining and thrilling. This does not hold true for the first episode per say because that is an introduction but everything that follows is more-or-less, better.

The various missions make for an interesting watch. Everyone here are more 'Dhaakad' than Kangana Ranaut in her film. The makers have tagged the trainees as that and they stay true to the word.

Kashmira Irani as Sara is good from scene one. She gets into action and nails it every single time. Seeing how good Regina, Kashmira and even Anjali to an extent is, it is only sad to see that the director did not pick one of them as the leads.

The only place this show really lacks is jumping from one intense scene into a random one without any prior explanation. That breaks the flow of watching the series to a great extent. In fact, there's a scene where you realize that even the lip sync is off and that is not one bit appealing.

This series has a connection to Shershaah and Captain Vikram Batra. The scene is pretty cute to watch.

Viraj and Avantika's pasts are explored in a little detail. While it should have been beautiful, both are but tragic. Avantika’s a little more and Regina pulls that off with brilliance, as expected of her.

The series takes extreme cinematic liberties in some scenes. One of them is where Viraj is hospitalized, not allowed phones calls, miraculously finds a phone, makes a phone call and returns it without deleting the log and the doctor also doesn't realize it. The loophole here is too big to ignore.

What Uri started in 2019 is overdone till date and Shoorveer is an addition to that. The industry has continued talking about 'naya Hindustan' for two years and so, we already know that and it is probably time for the makers to move past that too.

This series has a happy ending. It tries to invoke a feeling of patriotism and succeeds to a great extent. Apart from that, all the characters see their happy ending. However, the show has not come to an end, for the revenge is still pending and probably never-ending.

Verdict:

Those who are passionate about action, machines and flying will absolutely love the series which is both thrilling and delightful thanks to the way it has been shot. As lovely as director Kanishk Varma has kept the visuals and pace of the series, on the other hand, he creates many discrepancies while moving from one scene to another. He takes cinematic liberties which make you wonder if he has actually helmed the whole series afterall.

Shoorveer is your series which lets the male lead (Armaan Ralhan) shine out while others are almost sidelined. If you can overlook all of these aspects, Shoorveer is a pretty good watch.

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