Review: "36 Days" Fails to Deliver on Suspense and Drama

Title: 36 days
Produced by: Applause Entertainment in collaboration with BBC studios
Directed by: Vishal Furia
Star Cast:
• Purabh Kohli as Rishikesh, scientist and successful writer,
• Shruti Seth as Radhika, Rishikesh’s successful but sulky wife
• Neha Sharma as Farah, a sexy, sultry air hostess who comes to live in upmarket Goa residential society, Casa de Magnolia,
• Chandan Roy Sanyal as Tony Walia, the promoter and owner of most houses in Casa de Magnolia
• Chahat Vig as Sia, Tony’s wife,
• Sarib Hasmi as Vinod, resident of the society and manager in Tony’s Casino,
• Amruta Khanvilkar as Lalita, an aspirational nobody with big dreams and few scruples
• Shernaz Patel as Binaifer, another resident of the society and a baker with an unsound mind,
• Kenneth Desai as Denzil, a painter, Binaifer’s husband and a letch
• Faisal Rashid as Riad
• Sushant Digvikar as Tara, a transgender and Sia’s friend.

An adaptation of the UK show ‘35 Days’, this eight part series revolves around a mysterious young woman who shows up in a fancy housing society, Casa de Magnolia, in Goa.

It begins with her corpse lying on the ground, the glass of her main door broken and Binaifer crying just outside her house. The narrative then goes back 36 days to examine the period that lead to the killing. No detective comes in to solve the murder and that is the main USP the series-it unfolds itself.

Who is she? And what does she have to do with the other inhabitants of this tony society where each household appears to harbour a secret.

The neighbours include scientist Rishikesh, his sulky wife Radhika and two teenage kids.

Then there are the strange and eccentric Machados – Denzil, his wife Binaifer and their disturbed and divorced son Riad.

The aspirational Lalita and her disgruntled casino manager husband Vinod who do not seem to belong to the Casa but are lodged there due to the largesse of the vulgar landlord Tony and his sweet wife Sia.

The series should have been a gripper from the word go, but sadly, it just meanders at a pace of its own, with no great story telling skills or connect with the characters.

The star cast is amazing and all of them have done a great job, noteworthy being Chandan Roy Sanyal, Purabh Kohli, Shruti Seth, Amruta Khanvilkar, with special mention of Sushant Digvikar as transgender Tara.

Shernaz Patel, Kenneth Desai and Faisal Rashid as the Machados family disappoint. All of them move with a sort of droop, perhaps to depict the burden of the unhappiness that they carry, but it looks silly. The characterisation is bizarre and irritating and you are unable to connect with, or comprehend the workings of that family. Of them Shernaz is the most frustrating.

Though I have yet not seen the main series, in this adapt, there are so many elements and sub plots, that it just goes on and on in a meaningless fashion with little co-relation to the main theme.

Also, little effort has been made to Indianise the screenplay and create more relatable scenes.
The scripting and direction are at best superficial and lack depth. Little effort has been made to make it look real thus creating impact less scenes. The overall writing never really keeps the urgency and the tension in place, which is what a series like this should ideally coast on.

The first 5 episodes are a drag, though last 3 are still tolerable; it appears that by this time, the director, finally makes an effort to get a grip on the story telling.

The series has a number of songs bunged in to take the story forward, which is a positive as is the location and the housing society, that adds a fancy element to it.

Overall a dud in my opinion.