Trigger warning: Sexual assault

Starring Raveena Tandon and Parambrata Chatterjee, Aranyak just dropped on Netflix today. A puzzling murder in the small town of Sironah has two cops, Kasturi Dogra and Angad Malik, chasing after a web of suspects. The trailer set the mood for an edge-of-the-seat thriller, but does the show live up to it? Read this review to find out.

A performance-rich thriller

Aranyak is Raveena Tandon’s first outing on the OTT platform, and she doesn’t disappoint. Tandon’s Kasturi Dogra is raw, strong, unapologetic, and she knows how to get stuff done. As the series opens, Kasturi is all set to go on a sabbatical for a year when a sensational murder hits her town. Parambrata Chatterjee shines as Angad Malik, a straight-laced cop with a dark past of his own. Malik and Dogra stand at two ends of a pole and get off on the wrong foot. Angad is a by-the-book cop whereas Kasturi is an impulsive cop who wants her answers by hook or by crook.

Ashutosh Rana as Mahadev Dogra, Kasturi’s father-in-law and a retired cop, is fantastic. Other characters like Meghna Malik’s Minister Jagdamba and Zakir Hussain’s Kuber Manhas are beautifully fleshed out. Indraneil Sengupta as Ravi does a fabulous job but his character leaves a lot to be desired.

An eeriness that seeps into your bones

From the very first scene, the series established a sombre mood. Whether it’s the cinematography or the story itself, the uncanny factor of the show is dominant. As the show progresses, so does the eerieness. The forest plays an integral role in the show as can be seen from the opening scene. A school play that’s in a forest, with students acting as animals and where Angad’s son gets kidnapped, sets the mood.

In the first episode, we find a French girl, Aimee Baptiste, mauled, raped and hung on a tree. This was very similar to murders that plagued Sironah 19 years ago. These killings are always attributed to a mythical creature, The Leopard-Man. While everyone in town believes the story, Angad refuses to buy into the townsfolks’ superstitious beliefs.

A web of suspects weaving a web of lies

Every character, apart from Angad, Kasturi and Mahadev, are suspicious, from Jagdamba’s son Kanti to Manhas’ son-in-law Ravi to Aimee’s mother Julie. Every person we meet seems to have something to do with the victim. Till the very end, you don’t know who the culprit is. Is it really a mythical creature or is it a human killer from decades ago? Or is it a new killer in action piggybacking on the existing myth?

While the show does manage to captivate the audience, there are a few places where it lacks. In between interrogation scenes, it tries too hard to make things funny, just to lighten the mood. Similarly, characters like Ravi are not explored fully. Despite it all, Aranyak is a show that promises a thrill and suspense that you’ll wait for with bated breath.

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