Tandav
Review: New Amazon Prime Web Series
Tandav Web Series Review
Tandav
Web Series Review
Tandav
begins with a quote by renowned Polish philosopher Leszek
Kolakowski, who said that In politics,
being deceived is no excuse. A few
hours later, Saif Ali Khan, playing the Machiavellian mastermind and heir to the throne,
Samar Pratap Singh, explains to a friend
that having power is like having an extra penis. Which is so long and throbbing that
inevitably even the best women succumb to it.
He explains some of this in Hindi so you can imagine how it sounds. Between this range of high and low, director
Ali Abbas Zafar and writer Gaurav Solanki
attempt to create a sweeping saga of politics in contemporary India. It’s an intriguing combination.
Abbas Ali
is best known for larger-than-life Salman Khan movies such as Sultan and
Tiger Zinda Hai. Gaurav rose to fame
with grittier material like Article 15.
Together, they construct a twisted tale of ambition, betrayal, deception,
corruption and the evil that men
and women do in the quest for power.
Gaurav takes his cues from headlines –
we see dynastic politics and farmer protests; a chunk of the narrative is set in a
politically charged Delhi University, clearly modeled on JNU; there are IT farms to create Twitter trends,
chants of Azadi, deeply entrenched
bigotry and sexism and draconian laws,
which are misused by sold-out cops.
But this deep dive into the heart of darkness doesn’t chill your bones
in the way that Paatal Lok did.
Because Tandav is written in broad strokes and plays out like a pulpy soap opera. At its best, which isepisodes two to five,
Tandav is a deliciously wicked tale. And
at its weakest, which is pretty much the rest of it, it is a patchily written smorgasbord of
terrible people doing terrible things.
The
star-cast is instantly sexy.
Saif becomes the silky, devious Samar with ease. The character doesn’t have the vicious
force of Langda Tyagi or his more
recent Udaybhan in Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior.
But the actor revels in Samar’s sophistication, his ruthlessness,
his bouts of insecurity and weakness.
The same for Dimple Kapadia who plays Samar’s nemesis Anuradha
Kishore. She has a steely beauty. Her brittle exterior hints at the many
games played and compromises made to arrive where she is. Which might remind you of her stellar
turn as the ageing star Neena Walia in Zoya Akhtar’s Luck By Chance. But again, Tandav isn’t interested in
that depth or nuance.
Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub doesn’t have the
youth of a university student, but
he plays Shiva with blazing eyes and insistent integrity. And the scene stealer is Sunil Grover as
Gurpal, Samar’s right-hand man for whom
nothing is out of bounds. With a
thick accent and poker face, Gurpal
carries out the dirty work that must be done to keep the wheels of democracy turning. Gurpal is the ultimate stoic bad guy. Samar asks him, in one episode, if the dark
deeds weigh down his soul and Gurpal
replies that he deals with it by keeping a pet. Politics might be dirty business but Ali and
DOP Karol Stadnik showcase it with a glossy sheen. Nothing looks grimy, not even murder. Saif’s ancestral home Pataudi Palace, used
here as Samar’s home, becomes a symbol of status and authority. The lifestyle is lavish with close-ups of
these gleaming glasses of whisky, and
Samar stylishly grilling meat on his expansive lawns. And a scene between him and his wife
in a pool which has no ostensible purpose
except to make Saif and Sarah Jane Dias look attractive. The women, dressed in gorgeous handloom saris
styled by Subarna Ray Chaudhuri,
seem ready for a fashion magazine shoot.
In one scene, Anuradha is wearing pearls and tussar silk to dine
alone.
South
Block and India Gate are used recurringly as backdrops, perhaps to lend
authenticity. But Tandav doesn’t offer
much in terms of perceptive political commentary. There are some lines about the fight for the
soul of the nation but mostly, Ali and Gaurav prioritize
plot. Every episode is
chock-full of twists and turns.
There is little room for the characters to breathe or evolve. In the later episodes, as sub-plots are
added, the story scatters. Bodies pile
up, the scenario becomes increasingly far-fetched and moments that seem
pivotal are forgotten. Additional
narrative threads are tacked on
rather than being organically stitched into the tapestry. So suddenly a love angle develops, or a
character's sister emerges or two other
characters are seen in bed.
But when anything is possible, nothing seems urgent. Editor Steven H. Bernard ramps up the drama
by cross-cutting between the many stories.
At one point, he skillfully juxtaposes the idealism of the
students with the awful opportunism and
deal-making of the people in power.
The irony of where it begins and what it becomes is stark. But later in the series, the editing
becomes a band-aid, which barely holds the many strings together.
Julius Packiam’s background score is solid,
but used much too often to infuse suspense into scenes which range from
bland to downright silly. Tandav has way
too much Bollywood masala in its DNA,
which makes it intermittently entertaining but also shallow and
not very smart. You can see the series
on Amazon Prime Video.
Tandav
Web Series Star Cast
- Saif Ali Khan
- Dimple Kaparia
- Sunil Grover
- Kumad Misra
- Anup Soni
- Kritika Kamara
- Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub
- Tigmanshu Dhulia
- Gauahar Khan
- Dino Morea
- Sandhya Mridul
- Shonali nagrani
- Hiten Tejwani
Tandav Directed by Ali
Abbas Zafar
Tandav No. Of Episodes 9
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