36 Days is classic thriller with complex characters

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Adaptations of foreign shows are usually well-done in the web universe, with miniscule exceptions proving this rule. 36 Days, luckily for all of us, follows the rule rather than be an exception. Based on the BBC Studios’ show, 35 Days (only producers Applause Entertainment can explain why 35 is changed into 36!!), the series is based in a Goan neighborhood, Casa De Magnolia, where many complex characters and families live.

The ‘owner’ of the place is Tony Walia (Chandan Roy Sanyal), a womanizer of sorts who has now married Sia, his third bride. Sia harbors an ambition to act in a movie. Sia’s ex-lover, Tarun (Sushant Digvikar) is now Tara, who desires to be a woman. But Sia and Tara are on good terms, and, as it happens, Sia houses Tara in her home, against the wishes of Tony. Tony and Tara do not get along at all.

Dr. Rishikesh Jaykar (Purab Kohli) and his entrepreneur wife, Radhika (Shruti Seth) are a seemingly ideal couple and the husband is also an author, forget the fact that we barely see him practicing! But they are actually a dysfunctional duo, and Radhika feels that their employee, Sameera (Sapna Rathore) had committed suicide because she had been involved with her husband, who had been her employer. They have a daughter, Aditi (Khushi Bharadwaj) and Radhika’s son, Advait (Aman Desai) from an earlier marriage.

The motley characters also include the Catholic family of Denzel Machado (Kenneth Desai), his mentally unstable but expert baker of cakes wife, Binaifer (Shernaz Patel) and their son, Riad (Faisal Rashid), who is under psychiatric treatment after his divorce from Shonali (Palvi Jaswal), for which his mother was largely responsible.

Last but not the least, we have the spendthrift, money-minded Lalita (Amruta Khanvilkar), sister to drug-peddlar Bobo (Shivam Patil), who is married to casino manager Vinod (Sharib Hashmi). Vinod’s boss, Noel (K.C. Shankar) grows to be very fond of him for reasons best watched than described here.

Into this neighborhood enters airhostess Farah Zaidi (Neha Sharma), a mysterious figure whose house has only vital furniture and whose revealing costumes attract Tony and Rishikesh, but who arouses the suspicion of Vinod. What’s more, both Radhika and Binaifer look at her with the proverbial jaundiced eye, and Lalita even has a spat with her at one of the frequent parties thrown by either Tony or the Jaykars.

On the fringes, yet important, are other characters, like a police inspector (Ganesh Yadav) who also works for Noel, Farah’s brother-in-law, Mohit (Danish Pandor) and others. And the series starts with Farah’s murder and goes back in time—a refreshing concept that unravels the multiple threads and sub-plots in the smartly-plotted thriller.

The script packs a leisurely punch and does not see the need to dot all its ‘I’s or cross all the ‘T’s. Some ends are left open, many an issue unresolved and yet it all hangs together tightly, and the best part is that the explanation of the murder (complete with a twist within it!) happens only in the last 10 minutes of the eight happily-not-so-long episodes.

The complex screenplay about even more intriguing characters goes from drug mafias to mental health problems to suicide, sexual flings, blackmail, revenge and riveting suspense. Almost all through we see how, first, the suspects for Farah’s murders seem to increase, and suddenly, we see Farah as a different person who has made peace with herself. It will be no spoiler if I mention here is that Farah is on a mission of revenge, and also that the inter-linkage of all the stories and characters’ traits lead to the compelling turns in the plot.

While Roshin Balu’s background score is decently unobtrusive, the three songs by Shor Police are oddities that lack proper syntax as far as Hindi songs, even of the Club genre, are concerned. Siddhant Kaushal’s lyrics may be meaningful and Sushant Digvikar’s renditions (he doubles as a singer for himself) interesting, but the tunes are incongruously idiosyncratic when they could have been quirky.

However, its thumbs up for the cinematography (Quais Waseeq), the skilled editing (Abhijit Deshpande) and production design (Janhavi Wadke). Director Vishal Furia has done a commendable job by keeping the pace on slow-burn and yet sensibly thrilling.

As for the performances, they are the highlight of this saga of suspense, and we have Shernaz Patel, Sunil Digvikar, Neha Sharma (whose acting skills have been rarely explored), Chandan Roy Sanyal, Amruta Khanvilkar, Faisal Rashid, Kenneth Desai and Shivam Patil at the top of the heap, almost in that order. Sharib Hashmi, K.C. Shankar, Shruti Seth and Purab Kohli also impress.

Just like the show itself.

Rating: ***1/2

Sony LIV presents Applause Entertainment’s and BBC Studios’ 36 Days  Produced by: Sameer Nair, Deepak Segal & Sameer Gogate  Directed by: Vishal Furia  Written by: Anahata Menon & Seneca Mendonsa from the original ’35 Days’ written by Fflur Dafydd, Rachel Evans, Paul Jones, Siwan Jones & William Owen Roberts  Music: Shor Police Starring: Neha Sharma, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Purab Kohli, Faisal Rashid, Kenneth D’Souza, Shernaz Patel, Amruta Khanvilkar, Shruti Seth, Sushant Divgikar, K.C. Shankar, Shivam Patil, Sharib Hashmi, Chahat Vig, Nehal Vadoliya, Aman Desai, Sarah, Danish Pandor, Sharvari Deshpande, Hardika Sharma, Ganesh Yadav, Bianca Arora, Shweta Mehta, Khushi Bharadwaj, Sapna Rathore, Ashmara Sharma, Smaran Sahu, Zara Khan & others