Hi Friends,
Netflix launched another original web series in the Hindi language on 24th May 2020 and I binge-watched the 4 episodes released yesterday for around 3 hours in total. Betaal is a horror-drama from the house of Red Chillies Entertainment in collaboration with Blumhouse Production and SK Global Entertainment. The web series is directed by Patrick Graham and Nikhil Mahajan. The web series stars Vineet Kumar Singh, Aahana Kumra, Suchitra Pillai, Ankur Vikal, Manjiri Pupala, and Jitendra Joshi in prominent roles.
Betaal is about an old curse on a tunnel where the villagers protect the tunnel and government wants to connect the tunnel to the main highway. A fictional police force by the name of CIPD (Counter Insurgency Police Division) is called to stand against the assumed Naxalites protestors and the villagers are removed by force and their homes burnt. A tribal woman Puniya played by Manjiri Pupala lives to tell the story of the curse on the Betaal mountains. All other characters play some of the ranks in the CIPD namely Vineet (Vikram Sirohi), Aahana (DC Ahluwalia), and others all reporting to Suchitra (Commandant Tyagi). The actors and their body languages look totally fictional to make you convince as they belong to some kinds of force or uniform. That thing becomes visible by the look Vikram has on his face when he says bye to his boss Commandant Tyagi. It's basically a force without any brains whatsoever till the end of episode 4.
The story continues as they dug the tunnel and when some of the workers go inside without their JCBs or any kind of big lights, the already fully built tunnel, they don't come back and then the force goes and some come back infected. Again the main lead of the show Vikram goes inside to see that these are British Raj Military soldiers turned into zombies which he doesn't agree to while Commandant Tyagi is now fully controlled by the head of Zombies Colonel Lynedoch played by Richard Dillane. A lot of superstitions are showcased as Zombies won't be able to run past the Haldi-ash-salt lines but they can fire with their guns, play drums and even fly. Their bullets can also infect the people whom it hits. That's zombies on the next level but they all look kind of IT movie eyes but in red color and look really clown-like. In one sequence they say that all zombies have one eye, one instruction, one mind, and one order but they completely miss the chase when Aahana turns into a zombie and sees the 5 remaining characters running towards the village without getting any support from the other thousand zombies.
The dialogues are totally crap too where one soldier whole firing at British zombies says that this is for Jallianwala Bagh and this is for Bhagat Singh if only revenge and crime such as those will give some peace to the hearts of Indians by killing already dead British soldiers. More logic comes, when they get surrounded by a lot of British zombies so a guy said that he used to be a brilliant student before turning personal assistant and can repair anything and there was a canon by which they then kill the whole range of zombies in the room. Despite killing so many zombies, the dead forces keep on coming as if the mountain holds an unlimited supply of headcounts. The CIPD tries to save themselves and enter the British barracks where Jitendra Joshi (Ajay Mudhalvan) finds the diary of Colonel Lynedoch where he finds that he wants the sacrifice of his daughter Sanvi (Syna Anand) and tries to trade her in.
Overall, the horror audio is nice but not that spicy which will bring you to tremble in fear, and the overall performance of all the artists is just average. None other than Suchitra Pillay and Aahana looked somewhat convincing as the CIPD force. The only shrill that brings you is the mysterious character of village girl Puniya (Manjiri Pupala) as the story slowly unfolds. Vineet has acted just like he acted in Saandh ki Aankh with so much of heart in a force that is totally in the hands of politicians and whosoever pays them as they start to crack and break hierarchy just in the first few minutes of under pressure inside the barracks. In the end, web series making is not the game for everyone and you should not watch all of them until and unless they become super hit by word of mouth. Red Chillies has not been able to convince us with this one also after the Bard of Blood extravaganza. The story did have potential with all the right kinds of mysterious zombies and a storyline of the British Raj but the execution, acting, and production really beat the whole context. RATING 1.5/5
Sawubona!
Betaal is about an old curse on a tunnel where the villagers protect the tunnel and government wants to connect the tunnel to the main highway. A fictional police force by the name of CIPD (Counter Insurgency Police Division) is called to stand against the assumed Naxalites protestors and the villagers are removed by force and their homes burnt. A tribal woman Puniya played by Manjiri Pupala lives to tell the story of the curse on the Betaal mountains. All other characters play some of the ranks in the CIPD namely Vineet (Vikram Sirohi), Aahana (DC Ahluwalia), and others all reporting to Suchitra (Commandant Tyagi). The actors and their body languages look totally fictional to make you convince as they belong to some kinds of force or uniform. That thing becomes visible by the look Vikram has on his face when he says bye to his boss Commandant Tyagi. It's basically a force without any brains whatsoever till the end of episode 4.
The dialogues are totally crap too where one soldier whole firing at British zombies says that this is for Jallianwala Bagh and this is for Bhagat Singh if only revenge and crime such as those will give some peace to the hearts of Indians by killing already dead British soldiers. More logic comes, when they get surrounded by a lot of British zombies so a guy said that he used to be a brilliant student before turning personal assistant and can repair anything and there was a canon by which they then kill the whole range of zombies in the room. Despite killing so many zombies, the dead forces keep on coming as if the mountain holds an unlimited supply of headcounts. The CIPD tries to save themselves and enter the British barracks where Jitendra Joshi (Ajay Mudhalvan) finds the diary of Colonel Lynedoch where he finds that he wants the sacrifice of his daughter Sanvi (Syna Anand) and tries to trade her in.
Overall, the horror audio is nice but not that spicy which will bring you to tremble in fear, and the overall performance of all the artists is just average. None other than Suchitra Pillay and Aahana looked somewhat convincing as the CIPD force. The only shrill that brings you is the mysterious character of village girl Puniya (Manjiri Pupala) as the story slowly unfolds. Vineet has acted just like he acted in Saandh ki Aankh with so much of heart in a force that is totally in the hands of politicians and whosoever pays them as they start to crack and break hierarchy just in the first few minutes of under pressure inside the barracks. In the end, web series making is not the game for everyone and you should not watch all of them until and unless they become super hit by word of mouth. Red Chillies has not been able to convince us with this one also after the Bard of Blood extravaganza. The story did have potential with all the right kinds of mysterious zombies and a storyline of the British Raj but the execution, acting, and production really beat the whole context. RATING 1.5/5
Sawubona!
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