Rating: 3 out of 5
Director: Vijay Lalwani
Cast: Arjun Rampal, Sakshi Tanwar, Neeraj Kabi, Javed Jaffrey Vipin Sharma, Vineet Sharma, Anupriya Goenka, and others.
In an era of jingoistic nationalism director Vijay Lalwani (Who previously directed “Karthik Calling Karthik”) and his team of writers takes a different turn with this web series where they build a drama with some elements of thrill. To some extent, Mr. Lalwani succeeded in building the drama but the narrative should have been tighter at least in the last 3 episodes.
Synopsis: The web series tells a story of a skyline flight 502 who’s Pilot Karan Sachdev (Played by Arjun Rampal) wants to commit suicide mid-air. This puts the lives of fellow passengers in danger. Then comes ATC officer Kiran Mirza (Played by Sakshi Tanwar) and his team who are engaged into negotiating with the Pilot to overcome the situation. Will she be able to save the lives of the passengers? The series is about that.
From the first episode, you will put your seat belt on for a thrill ride. The first 4 episodes will keep you hooked, but the rest of the episodes becomes a drama about a dilemma, losing lives and spirituality. At this point, the story didn’t move too much and loses the thrill a bit. I feel the series is overcrowded with characters and their stories. Some characters are well written and some are undercooked. The writers failed to hold the viewer’s attention while justifying each character’s back story, in spite of a great start. Apart from the shortcomings, the series has some well written moments and some great performance which will surely be in your memory for a long time.
Performance: I was completely amazed by the performance of Sakshi Tanwar. Why didn’t she get such roles? She has given a brilliant performance as a tough ATC Officer who has strong mental stability while dealing with Terrorists. One scene I must mention where her team gets to know that she lost someone very close. Some outstanding writing was reserved for Neeraj Kabi, he played Mr. Krishnamoorthy, an astrologer with a special ability. His philosophy will surely provoke your thoughts to be changed. Arjun Rampal as Pilot Karan Sachdev delivers a superb performance. The character’s dilemma, the pain was efficiently portrayed by him. His character will tell you the other side of being an Air force officer. Javed Jaffrey (Played a Business Tycoon Mr. Singhania) is very good but gets less scope to act. Anupriya Goenka (Played Air Hostess Parineeta) was very good so as Vipin Sharma as ATS chief. Anshuman Malhotra (A young footballer named Dhruv) is okay but didn’t get the scope to deliver much. Vineet Sharma excels within his limited screen space. The actress Lydia backhouse is completely alien to the plot. As the flight was headed to Sydney, they needed an Australian. Rest of the characters are okay.
Direction: Director Vijay Lalwani’s biggest success is the establishment of a spiritual angle. It becomes prominent in the climax scenes. But he somehow doesn’t get the proper support from the script to tighten the narrative. Otherwise, he is good.
Screenplay: Writing is very good for a few characters and failed to create an emotional bonding for others. As a result, you will feel for some characters and for others you may wonder why they are here.
Technical Departments: The cinematography was good but the VFX is badly edited. The flight looks different in night scenes as they have forgotten to put the name on the flight. Sound, background music are okay. Editing is okay.
Overall the series will make you think and give a few lessons of life while keeping you on the edge of your seats.
Reader's Treat 