Paashbalish review: Ishaa Saha, Suhotro Mukhopadhyay, and Saurav Das’ thriller is a damp squib

2.5/5

Paashbalish story:

After being rescued by cops, Chandu (Suhotro Mukhopadhyay) lives at a police station. He loves his childhood crush Mampi, aka Anchal (Ishaa Saha). Anchal is the daughter of local leader Mahadev (Shankar Debnath). Local tribe Paharbangshis are his opposition. Saurav Das is the leader of the Paharbangshi people. Local SDPO Adhiraj Sen (Rishi Kaushik) bursts a drug peddling racket and then starts investigating the mysterious murders of a series of people.

Paashbalish review:

To begin with, the title does zero justice to the show. For that matter, there are not many things that actually do any justice to the show. The trailer of Paashbalish shows a bit of promise. However, the actual show took about 10 minutes to shatter all the expectations. The web series is pretty much pointless, unconvincing, badly made, and lacks almost in all the departments.

First thing first, the writing of the show is shoddy. The plot goes haywire within 20 minutes of the show and since then it just goes downhill. The character development is equally bad. Not a single character – the leads and the supporting actors – is convincing. The dialogues are ludicrous and make the characters more ridiculous than their shoddy makeup.

Some of the scenes are simply outrageous. Anchal – a local independent video journalist – goes to a serious raid hosted by the police force. With a gimbal in her hand, she smartly enters a drug den when an army of cops stands behind her. This is the beginning. This immature execution goes on till the end. The climax is hideously staged.

Since the characters are badly written, the actors fail to make any convincing impact whatsoever. Suhotra, known to be a fine actor of his generation, appears over the top throughout the show. Same with Ishaa. From her loud makeup to weak and implausible dialogue – the actress has little to bank on. Saurav looks equally bad and his makeup looks imposing. Rishi Kaushik fails to make a mark due to a sheer lack of care. Shankar Debnath is probably a little better than the others. Even he falters now and then.

The music and background score are probably the best bits in the show. Also, the twist in the story by the end brings a momentary whiff of fresh air. However, that does not last long.

Paashbalish verdict:

The plot and execution of the show are all over the place and no one in the makers’ team seems to care. Please feel free to give it a miss.

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