Title: Raakh
Director: Prosit Roy
Cast: Ali Fazal, Sonali Bendre, Aamir Bashir, Rakesh Bedi,
Where: Prime Video
Rating: 4 Stars
Raakh is a crime thriller based in the late 1970s, inspired by the infamous Ranga-Billa case, who were the duo behind the kidnapping and murder of siblings Geeta and Sanjay in Delhi in 1978.
The story is about a heinous crime and the subsequent nationwide manhunt that follows, showing the aftermath of the crime for all those involved- the victims and their families, the lead police investigator, but most importantly, the murderers, along with their back story. Instead of just the crime and what follows, Raakh shows us what goes into the making of a killer.
Actors’ Performances
Ali Fazal’s rookie cop is upright, someone dedicated to give his best and deliver, but facing opposition from the age-old practices of politicians wanting quick results without understanding ground realities. Luckily, his demeanour is one of respect, otherwise an aggressive persona may have drawn comparisons between this and Mirzapur’s Guddu. Rakesh Bedi is the father who’s claim to fame is his mutton curry. His emotional side and dialogues that go with it, reflecting a wordly reality, will connect with both fathers and sons.
However, even his best mutton curry isn’t enough to let Dibyendu Bhattacharya (SP Indranil Hajra) let Ali retain a high profile case. Dibyendu’s shows accurately how a senior police officer would carry out a demotion without it even sounding like one.
Akash Makhija (Babu) is irreplaceable in showing his descent into the darkest of places, even though even as a child he was quite evil, but subsequent circumstances just lead him to become even more unforgiving. Its his eyes where you spot the madness at times. On the other hand there is Ramandeep Yadav (Rajjo) a most gullible character, his most distinct feature in magnifying his innocence is his thin voice. Sonali Bendre shows us the other side of grief, when a mother goes into so much of shock about losing her children that she refuses to accept reality. that they're actually gone. Her most telling moment comes when the script, the storytelling and the situation meet together during the moment when she is she has a miscalculated interaction with a pregnant woman. Aamir Bashir as the father, an army man, is stellar.
Anshul Chauhan plays a committed reporter, and fortunately one who is not annoying when being pushy about her reporting. Special mention must definitely be made of Mukund Pal, who shows the art form of performing as a half man-half woman singer in a shady Delhi bar.
FPJ Verdict
Raakh is not an easy watch. But here’s what director Prosit Roy and the rest of the creative team need to congratulated about, and that too as loudly as possible- For showing us a web series based on an incident involving rape, and not showing us the act of rape on screen, following the same format which the first season of Delhi Crime did.
This is something we need severely in Bollywood, to stop the sensationalism and over-use of the depiction of rape, which is not only extremely disturbing but also unnecessary a lot of times. Also, without giving a spoiler, I would also like to laud, again, the creative team for the ode given at the end to the family, rather than just reducing them to a crime statistic and offering sympathy.
