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The Nepali constitution bars discrimination “on grounds of origin, religion, race, caste, tribe, sex, economic condition, language, region, ideology or on similar other grounds”. This constitution itself was drafted by the fully sovereign Constituent Assembly that was elected following a bloody civil war. The hereditary monarchy, blamed for all kinds of social discriminations, was removed and a federal republic heralded in its place. From here on in, all Nepalis would be equal before the law, and those practicing any kind of discrimination would be prosecuted. Or such was the exalted vision. 

In reality, all the kinds of discriminations proscribed by the constitution continue, none more so than the one based on caste. And no other section of the society is as discriminated against as the Dalits, who, according to the 2011 census, make up 13.6 percent of the national population. Scattered all over the country and regarded as the ‘lowest caste’ (or ‘untouchables’) in caste hierarchy, the food they touch is still ‘impure’ for higher cases and they continue to be barred from Hindu temples in parts of Nepal. Sometimes, they may even be murdered.  

On May 23, Nabaraj BK, a Dalit from Jajarkot in western Nepal, and five of his close friends, also Dalits, were chased and beaten, and their injured bodies thrown into a raging river. All of them died. Another 12 friends of BK were injured, at the hands of the ‘high caste’ villagers in Chaurjahari Municipality of Rukum (West) district. BK had planned to elope with his high caste lover and gone to Chaurjaharai with his friends to get her. It turned into the worst nightmare they could have imagined. 

In the ongoing investigation, police have detained 34 suspects for the crime. Yet Dalit activists fear the investigation may not be impartial. “We fear evidences might be tampered with or the investigation might be relaxed if we are not vigilant,” says Pradip Pariyar, executive chairperson at Samata Foundation Nepal, who also identifies as a Dalit Lives Matter activist. “Our team of lawyers and rights activists has visited the incident site and made our own observations. We conclude that this is a premeditated murder fueled by racial discrimination.” 

It is important that the pressure on the government and the judiciary be maintained so that bereaved families can get justice. If the police can sort this out and the perpetrators get punishments that befit their crimes, it will set a strong precedent. It will be a potent show of the state’s intent to wipe out caste-based discrimination. 

At the same time, the state must work more with the NGOs, civil society organizations, and the media to create a new discourse on Dalit empowerment. What are the problems they face and how do we as a society help them deal with them? What kind of message do we give to our youngsters to get them to ditch the discriminatory paths charted by their parents and grandparents? 

It’s a tragedy we have to keep emphasizing that Dalit and Black and Ahmadi and Rohingya lives matter, as if many of us silently believe just the opposite. 

A 21-year-old ‘low caste’ youth is lynched by an unforgiving mob for trying to elope with his lover. Nabaraj BK, a Dalit from Jajarkot, loses his life along with five of his close friends, because he dared love someone from an ‘upper caste’. Another 12 of his friends are injured in the brutal attack, some of them so severely that they are still in trauma and in need of medical attention and psychological counseling.

The incident on May 23, when villagers of Soti in Chaurjahari Municipality, Rukum (West) chased and set upon BK and his friends, was widely misreported at the start, making the intentional murder sound like an accident. But as truth unfolded, it got clearer that young men aged 18-23 did not die by accident.

In the ongoing police investigation involving 34 suspects, some of those detained have admitted to intentional murder and caste-based discrimination.

And what did we do about it? We were outraged. We were distressed. We were embarrassed. But for how long? We shared photos and graphics on social media. We posted #DalitLivesMatter on social media, and we complained of how our society is still casteist and racist. Then we forgot all about the lives lost, the grieving families, and the hurting survivors. While justice is yet to be served, the survivors of this horrific massacre reel under financial burden and live in constant fear.

“We know there is an ongoing investigation, but we also fear evidences might be tampered with or the investigation might be relaxed if we are not vigilant,” says Pradip Pariyar, executive chairperson at Samata Foundation Nepal, who also identifies as a Dalit Lives Matter activist. “Our team of lawyers and rights activists has visited the incident site and made our own observations. We conclude that this is a premeditated murder fueled by racial discrimination.” There are also other reports that speak of evidence tampering and gross negligence on the part of the police and local authorities.

Keep up the pressure

While Pariyar asks for a fair trial and corresponding punishment to the perpetrators, he stresses that Nepal’s legal system is slow, and the “bureaucracy running the show lacks empathy.” In this situation, politically influential sources could favor the perpetrators and influence the decisions of the legal bodies should the trials extend for long.

As it is, ruling party leaders, including Janardan Sharma and Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, have said that “BK and his friends died when they tried to flee,” without waiting for investigation reports. Dalit rights activists are not satisfied with how the ruling party, supposedly a party of marginalized communities, failed to address this incident in the parliament.

Pariyar urges the supporters of Dalit Lives Matter to keep up the pressure on the government and the judicial system. “We should make this a representational incident that shows that caste-based discrimination still exists in our society and press forward against all kinds of discriminations,” Pariyar adds.

Says entrepreneur and social media activist Shree Gurung, “While we continue to show our displeasure against this incident on social media, we should also start talking about racism and casteism in our own families. Gurung, who is facilitating a support group to help the cause of Dalit Lives Matter in coordination with Samata Foundation Nepal and other Nepali individuals living in Nepal and abroad, adds: “Be it your parents or elders or relatives or seniors, if they discriminate against other people, call them out.”

The group, which has both Gurung and Pariyar, has decided on a plan on continued advocacy against racial discrimination. Along with collecting and facilitating relief for victims and their families, the group will continue to disseminate information on the case, create platforms for discourse among the young generation, produce multimedia including music, videos and documentaries for awareness, and archive important information for further use.

‘Fake news’ abound

Bhim Bahadur Singh, a Kantipur journalist and activist based in Khalanga, Jajarkot, also stresses the importance of collecting and disseminating correct information. Singh has been a major source of information and relief distribution facilitator for this scribe. On their first conversation on June 8, Singh pointed out how local media as well as influential people had diverted the flow of information to suit the perpetrators’ narratives. ‘Fake news’ and rumors had spread across the region and then the whole country, dividing people’s opinions on the matter.

“The police have taken 34 people into custody and charged them with homicide, attempted homicide and caste-based discrimination and untouchability,” Singh informs over the phone from Jajarkot. “As of June 17, nine of them have already been interrogated.” Singh speaks about the ongoing protests by family members against the victims’ autopsy reports that show drowning as the cause of deaths. Family members are accusing foul play and tampering of evidence. “The protests had taken a violent turn yesterday when the police charged at the families and supporters with batons. Even I got hurt in the scuffle,” Singh adds. “The protests are to be peaceful today.”

As the Covid-19 pandemic creates new problems every single day, the issue of racism might not get the priority it deserves. But as most activists say, identifying and addressing these issues at home might be a good start.

“Choked: Paisa Bolta Hai” is literally a metaphor about the power of money to put a gag on someone’s life. Money troubles choke the best of people from every walk of life. Bearing the brunt of monetary pressure in the film is a lower-middle class family from Mumbai. At the same time, the whole of India is choked by the 2106 Indian banknote demonetization. If only metaphors and symbolisms could make a movie interesting, Anurag Kashyap’s “Choked” would have taken home the cake.

“Choked” was a great opportunity to document an event that is guaranteed to make it into history books. Featuring a lower-middle class family, its lower-middle class neighborhood, and a lower-middle class society, the film could have used them to showcase the chaos created by the sudden demonetization. But overemphasis on establishing characters strangles life out of the film.

Sarita (Saiyami Kher) and Sushant Pillai (Roshan Mathew) live with their pre-teen son Sameer (Parthvir Shukla) in a crowded Mumbai neighborhood. Sarita is a teller at a government bank while Sushant, a former musician, has given up music and is currently unemployed after switching between multiple jobs and failed attempts at different careers. For a family of three, survival on the meager salary of a bank teller is difficult in expensive Mumbai. Making things worse, the couple does not share a healthy relationship, as a past incident keeps coming between them.

The family struggles to live respectably on Sarita’s income when, one day, by sheer luck, she comes across plastic-wrapped bundles of bank notes in the clogged drain of her kitchen sink. Apparently the tenant above her flat is laundering money for a politician. The event is repeated again and again, as the money keeps flowing. Sarita’s conscience is getting corrupted by the day as well. 

Then, suddenly, everything and everyone is thrown into a frenzy when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces that bank notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations would be invalid from the very next day. Sarita’s life is turned upside down as she starts being blackmailed by a goon, her husband starts doubting her, and work stress more than doubles for Sarita as people start piling in to have their notes exchanged.

To justify its name, panic and chaos should have been at the heart of Choked, but they are rare and thus the movie’s tempo is never raised. Director Kashyap spends much time establishing Sarita’s character. The pressure felt by the wife of an unemployed man who does not even help at home and is instead making things difficult for her is definitely strangling Sarita. Along with this, she also has to deal with bad memories from an incident that keeps gnawing on her mental health. But all this takes too much time to establish and by the time we see the bigger scheme of things, we start believing the film is about Sarita and everything else is sideshow.

This is probably one reason the film feels much longer than its 1hr 54mins runtime. And despite generous screen-time, the screenplay lags in the first half, and then whirlwinds into a climax. The film wastes too time creating symbolisms around Sarita. Many scenes with ominous music and quirky montages around Sarita never escalate into anything.

Kashyap delivers a film that is uncharacteristic of his passionate filmmaking. But the lead actors do benefit from time in front of camera. Roshan Matthew, who has already made is mark in Malayalam movies, now gets the attention of Bollywood. And Saiyami Kher, who suffered one of the biggest duds in 2016, starring in the fantasy “Mirzya” opposite Harshvardhan Kapoor, now benefits from all the added attention her character gets. Showing more maturity in her acting, Saiyami finally makes a mark in as an actor who could survive in the industry.

Ratings: 2.5 stars

Director: Anurag Kashyap

Actors: Saiyami Kher, Roshan Matthews

Genre: Drama

Run time: 1hr 54mins

Strictly for children because an adult who’s used to watching multiple genres of films might find “Pahuna: The Little Visitors” a touch boring. Not just because it’s a children’s film. We’ve watched and enjoyed numerous children’s movies before, but Pahuna, even with all its effort, lacks that charm to hold adult attention. At the same time, from children’s perspective, it could be a cute little film that also gives them a few handy moral lessons along the way.

A family fleeing violence in a hilly border area of Nepal makes tries to cross over to Sikkim in India. They join other villagers in the process and on their way, the children—Amrita, Pranay, and Bishal—get separated from their parents. The film does not give any timeline but from a few references in the dialogues, we can assume the date is right after the 2001 royal massacre in Nepal. The ages of the children are also never mentioned; perhaps the eldest Amrita (Ishika Gurung) as well as her younger brother Pranay (Anmoul Limboo) is around 10-12, with a couple of years between them. Bishal, the youngest, is an infant.

After the children get separated from their family, they join the villagers making their way to a church in Peling, Sikkim, seeking refuge. The group includes a know-it-all old man called Rai Budo (Mahendra Bajgai) who spins tales laced with false information about Christianity. The young children take his stories seriously and are instilled with deep fear of Christians, specially the church priest. Not wanting to risk their lives with Christians at the church, the children run way from the group and find themselves living in an abandoned bus in the jungle.

The story of Pahuna, even though it sometimes places children in rather harrowing situations, is a feel-good account of how children learn from their environment and adapt to it. Left alone with no adults to take care of them, Amrita and Pranay take on the role of breadwinners as well as caretakers for infant Bishal. They face conflicting situations as the film progresses and despite their young age, come up with solutions that will keep their family together. Young children become adults in Pahuna and display earnestness, accountability and dependability in a way that could inspire other children watching the movie.

Produced by successful Indian actress Priyanka Chopra’s Purple Pebble Pictures, and written and directed by Paakhi A. Tyrewala, the 1hr 28mins drama has all the characteristics of a Bollywood feature film. The background score is lively, the original soundtracks melodious, and the cinematography able to capture the essence of the hills. The overall packaging is simple, organic, yet commercially sellable.

The dialogues of Biswas Timshina are the only let down. It is evident that the film has used mostly non-actors in all roles and acting coach Veena Mehta has done a decent job of grooming them to express themselves on screen.

But Timshina’s dialogues are so uninspiring, they take away the spark of the characters. Timshina seems to be trying too hard to suppress the Sikkimese Nepali argot. The need to represent a region with a sizable Nepali-speaking community is lost in Timshina’s efforts to make all conversations sound formal. As a result, in some scenes, the characters seem to be reading out of a Nepali textbook. In all fairness, it might be a deliberate move to make dialogues more comprehensible, but again, the dialogues do alienate the characters from their settings, which is a definite no-no.

Who should watch it?

Children should, and learn a few things maybe. Adults can definitely accompany them and guide them through the proceedings, as well as explain the situations that might be confusing for the young ones.

Rating:

2.5 stars

Pahuna

Genre: Drama

Actors: Ishika Gurung, Anmoul Limboo, Mahendra Bajgai

Director: Paakhi A. Tyrewala

Run time: 1hr 28 mins

During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a battalion of redcoats from the East India Company Army are outnumbered and trapped in a cave in a remote Indian village. Their commanding officer Lt. Col John Lynedoch (Richard Dillane), a fanatic believer in black magic, summons the power of Betaal, and tragedy strikes. He turns into a zombie, attacking and infecting his own soldiers till the villagers find a way to contain the army inside the cave itself.

Fast-forward to present day: a team of Indian soldiers called the ‘Baaz Squad’—an elite unit of the fictional Counter Insurgency Police Department (CIPD)—under the command of their leader Commandant Tyagi (Suchitra Pillai) and Commandant Vikram Sirohi (Vineet Kumar Singh) arrive at the same village, apparently to fight Naxalite rebels. Only Commandant Tyagi knows the true reason for their presence there. Bloodshed follows and the trapped soul of Col John Lynedoch that is under Betaal’s spell is accidentally released, unleashing havoc in the village.

Despite a strong production team, an opportunity to create a precedent, and a setting that could send shivers down the audience’s spine, the hype of “Betaal”, India’s first zombie horror web television series, died as soon as it was released. We couldn’t figure out why, so we watched it. We were so disappointed that zombie movies/series will never be the same for us anymore.

With Bollywood’s “king” Shahrukh Khan’s company Red Chillies Entertainment as one of the producers, expectations from the series, the first of its kind to be made in India, were definitely high. But writer/director Patrick Graham’s effort to give life to the undead, Indian-style, has turned into a cheap spoof of actual zombie movies.

We’ll not comment on the acting on this one because there seems to be no difference between the dead and the undead. Everyone appears in a sort of daze throughout the series, with no idea of what they are doing. Experienced actors fail to make impress and new faces don’t even solicit any attention.

Most appalling is sheer lack of seriousness evident in the production unit. Despite the backing of a major production house, the flaws in the series are uncountable. For instance, the soldiers of the supposed elite unit communicate through wireless headsets. That’s normal. But the wireless sets used in Betaal look like they were outsourced from one of the outsourcing companies (read: call centers) in India—so not pleasing on the eyes. There are so many of these eye-hurting details and jerks that a book on “Everything wrong with Betaal” could be written.

The efforts to Indianize the undead scores yet another own goal: The zombies in Betaal can be warded off by a mixture of salt, turmeric and ashes! The only thing remaining was to add a bit of “gau mutra” to the mix and the credit for the script could have been given to the infamous “Go Corona Go” singing state minister of India.

Without a single scene that could be called scary or at least exciting, the series never escapes its lethargic mode. The zombies here are a product of bad prosthetic work and pale in comparison even to the demons featured in ‘Ramayana’, the 1987 Indian TV series. Actually, the ’87 ghosts and demons were a lot more convincing than the zombies in Betaal. There’s also a crafty allusion to the mythical  “Vikram-Betaal” characters from Indian literature, but all creative efforts are lost in the chaotic dissonance of the series.

Luckily, it’s only a four-part series, with 44-49 minute episodes. The final episode hints at Season 2 but, surely, that ain’t happening.

Who should watch it?

If you’ve seen zombie movies like “Night of the Living Dead,” “Train to Busan” or even “World War Z”, you’ll regret Betaal. We recommend you give it miss, or just fast-forward through the first episode if you’re very curious.

Betaal

Rating: 1 star

Genre: Horror

Director: Patrick Graham

Actors: Richard Dillane, Suchitra Pillai, Vineet Kumar Singh

Run time: 3hrs (approx.)

Doing the busting is Sushil Koirala, a Bangkok-based public health expert and one of the authors of the popular change.org petition urging the Nepali government to massively expand Covid-19 testing.

Myth 1: There’s no virus in Nepal. The government is making up the positive cases to extend the lockdown and get donations from international agencies.

Fact: As viruses are very small, they are difficult to see. The only way to know for sure is to find an infected person and test them for a virus. Our government may certainly be faking many things, but it’s unlikely that a virus that has infected over six million people around the world and taken the life of almost half a million can be faked.

Nepal has plenty of reasons to seek foreign aid but rest assured, we have neither the skill nor the manpower to create such a massive hoax.

Myth 2: Nepalis are immune to the virus because of what they eat: ginger, garlic, turmeric, you name it.

Fact: Nepal happens to be among only a handful of countries that has seen a few deaths among young adults and children—even with a small number of its positive cases. Garlic, ginger and turmeric are good for health (they taste good too) and may boost your immunity, too, but the ‘garlic immunity’ is not known to protect anyone from the Covid-19 virus. If that were the case, no one in China would have gotten the virus. They love garlic and ginger there.

No one knows why the virus makes someone very sick while nothing happens to someone else it infects, and overall health does not seem to make a difference on the severity of symptoms. Nepal is at a higher risk of severe Covid-19 cases as people’s overall health here is poorer compared to the health of the people of more developed countries.

Myth 3: As the Covid-19 death rate in Nepal is low, not many Nepalis will from it.

Fact: People don’t die as soon as they get the infection; it generally takes time for someone to acquire the virus and then die from it. Up to now, most infections in Nepal have been seen in labor migrants, who tend to be young males. As you probably know, young people are at lesser risk of dying from Covid-19. So we don’t see high death numbers. Globally, the virus seems to infect younger people (as they move around a lot more) and then slowly moves to the elderly, who are most affected by it. I think we are just not there yet. The young-to-old is a natural progression of this pandemic in other countries.

Myth 4: The climate of Nepal is unsuitable for the virus.

 Fact: This virus is now circulating in five continents and has affected 182 countries. Some are spreading faster than others but it is now clear that it can spreads in all kinds of climates.

Myth 5: The virus strain we have is weak.

Fact: As the virus spreads, it mutates. As viruses replicate rather than reproduce, these imperfections are natural too. There are 15 known strains of the Covid-19 virus circulating in the world. Certain differences have been observed in different parts of the world but there is no evidence that the strain in Nepal is weak. As even young adults and children are dying, it could well be more potent. It’s too early to say. Plus, there has been no virus culture in Nepal, so this is just an untested assumption.

Last word: In my view, the only fact that we all need to believe in is that the virus is real, and is infecting millions. Hundreds of thousands are dying. And there is as yet no medication to cure it and no vaccine to ward it off. No one knows if one population has more immunity than others.

Eating garlic can definitely help you get stronger but it won’t protect you from the virus. The only proven prevention is maintaining at least 6-ft distance from people you don’t live with, washing hands regularly, wearing masks, and seeking test and help if you have fever, difficult breathing, persistent cough, and sudden loss of sense of taste and smell.

“The Lovebirds” popped up on the new films section of Netflix this week. Going by its trailer, it definitely looked like an interesting rom-com. For one thing, with an inter-racial couple in the lead, it promised to be a fresh breath of air among the plethora of the new Netflix releases that have miserably bombed. But how many times have we been fooled by good trailers?

Jibran (Kumail Nanjiani) and Leilani (Issa Rae) are one of those live-in couples who find it difficult to come to terms with their differences with the passage of time. The differences in opinions and lifestyles get so stark, they are on the verge of a breakup. In fact, they are discussing a split when a freak incident on the road has them on the run from the law and what looks like a criminal racket.

Honestly, The Lovebirds has a pretty run-of-the-mill story. Every other rom-com features estranged (or almost estranged) couples running for their lives from baddies who never seem to get hold of them. Then, in the face of imminent danger, they realize they’re made for each other and all ends well. So, basically, it’s the presentation of plots and sub-plots within a clichéd story that makes these films differ from each other.

The Lovebirds, slated for theaters in late-April this year under the famous Paramount Pictures, was forced into a Netflix release because of the global Covid-19 lockdown. It does try to present the overused rom-com formulae differently. There are two “non-white” characters as main leads in a romantic comedy that has nothing to do with race. Also, the pairing of a “black and brown” couple is quite unprecedented. At the same time, the casting allows filmmakers to make a few jibes at the “racial profiling” problems the US has faced of late.

But even with the talented Issa Rae and the experienced Kumail Nanjiani in lead roles, The Lovebirds falls into the trap of old tropes. Directed by Michael Showalter, it follows the couple around the streets of New Orleans to give life to this story, but in vein.

The screenplay lacks the strength to keep the film amusing through its 1hr 27 mins length. A movie of that length should pass in a jiffy but not The Lovebirds. It struggles to maintain the steady rhythm of an entertaining comedy and when the story moves to suspenseful moments and thrilling revelations, the lead-up is botched. There’s no method whatsoever, which makes this film boring.

Despite his experience, Pakistani-American actor Kumail struggles to keep up the energy his character requires. The actor, who’s played dozens of roles in films and television productions, doesn’t look quite comfortable in the lead. Issa as Leilani is also not a memorable character. Yet the blame for the lackluster acting should also fall on the shoulders of the writing team.

The Lovebirds is a film about how a pair of perfectly normal people would react when they suddenly find themselves in complicated situations. Being involved in more than one murder, running away from police, hiding from criminals, and at the same time snooping around for clues to solve the mystery—everything in the film called for a face-paced, action-packed tempo. Instead, what the audience gets, in Lelani’s own words, is “The Amazing Race with dead people.”

Who should watch it?

It’s not the worst movie we’ve watched and still better than the highly anticipated Indian zombie series that recently to atrocious reviews. If you enjoy a bit of romance and a bit of comedy, you might just enjoy The Lovebirds in bits and pieces.

The Lovebirds

Rating: 2 stars

Director: Michael Showalter

Actors:Kumail Nanjiani, Issa Rae

Run time: 1 hr 27 mins

Genre: Comedy

“Mrs. Serial Killer” is more than just a film; it’s a huge lesson for a Netflix noob. A lesson learnt the hard way by wasting 106 minutes of precious movie time, double the amount of energy suffering through it, and risking one’s sanity in the process. Written, directed, and co-produced for Netflix by Shirish Kunder, Mrs. Serial Killer is proof that not all films that make it to Netflix’s trending list or create a buzz on social media are worth watching. (So much for the habit of not reading reviews before watching a film! Our readers are strongly advised to dig up APEX reviews before watching anything.)

Mrs. Serial Killer tells the story of Sona Mukerjee (Jacqueline Fernandez), a distraught wife who decides to kill someone so that she can free her husband Dr. Mrityunjoy “Joy” Mukerjee (Manoj Bajpayee), an accused serial killer who is in custody. The logic, as suggested by their lawyer Brij Rastogi (Darshan Jariwala), is that if a crime is committed with the same modus operandi as the suspected killer in custody, the court will have to grant him bail and the case against him will weaken. So Mrs Mukerjee tries to become Mrs. Serial Killer, with twists and turns and an ex-boyfriend—Inspector Imran Shahid (Mohit Raina)—determined to stop her.

The idea itself is not as bad as the execution. Right from the beginning, which starts with Jacqueline’s close-up shots, the film begins to spiral. And it tanks so awfully that the audience is left with nothing to hang on to in this one-way roller-coaster that takes them to the very bottom of a pit where cinematic disasters like Mrs. Serial Killer rest in peace.

For lead actress Jacqueline—who’s probably never gotten the same amount of screen space in any of her previous films—this movie was a chance to prove herself as an actor. Unfortunately, the actress seems to lack acting chops and as we reflect on her past works, we cannot conjure a single valid reason why filmmakers would choose her for this important role. Not only does Jacqueline manage to make a mess of the already messed up screenplay with her unreadable facial expressions, her dialogue delivery also falters as the film progresses.

But we cannot hold anything against her. She’s just a victim of wrong casting. However, the same cannot be said of veteran actor Manoj Bajpayee. A winner of multiple awards—including the coveted National Awards—in his almost three-decade-long career, Manoj bitterly disappoints. Granted that the writing and direction are below average, yet Manoj’s depiction of Dr. Mukerjee has to be among the worst performances of his career. He’s playing a simple-looking doctor who might be a serial killer in a film that is supposedly a thriller. But Manoj seems to have come to come to work unprepared and is confused how to project himself. Instead of getting into his multi-layered character, he seems to be mimicking a bad actor, trying to perform a role he doesn’t comprehend.

Indian television’s ‘Mahadev’ Mohit Raina is no better. The actor who became a household name with his portrayal of Lord Shiva in the “Mahadev” television series a few years ago, does not seem cinema-fit. Playing a character that has a reason to be constantly angry, to seek vengeance, Mohit seems unable to grasp the intensity with which he needed to portray police inspector Imran.

Bad writing, direction and acting are complimented by the mediocre background music. Surprisingly, Mr Kunder takes credit for music as well. Any movie fan will tell you that good background score is a must for a thriller. In this case, the music doesn’t build up any tension or create suspenseful, ominous moments. To cut it short, the background score in Mrs. Serial Killer is like one of the tracks people with Garage Band make, by arranging already available sound samples into a single track.

Who should watch it?

The beauty of Netflix is that it offers thousands of hours of videos from all around the world and as such Mrs. Serial Killer shouldn’t be on anyone’s list.

Rating: 1 star

Genre: Drama, Crime

Director: Shirish Kunder

Cast: Jacqueline Fernandez, Manoj Bajpayee, Mohit Raina

Run time: 1hr 46mins