Aranyak Review: Raveena Tandon plays a woman whose simple policing methods are driven by native intelligence and steely resolve. Parambrata Chattopadhyay delivers an impressively poised performance.
A picturesque hill station setting, the unusual pairing of Raveena Tandon and Parambrata Chattopadhyay as lead actors, steady and understated performances and unblemished cinematography make Aranyak, a Netflix series produced by Ramesh Sippy and Siddharth Roy Kapur, watchable fare even when it tends to fall back on somewhat facile means to power the story along.
Murder mystery, police procedural and forest lore rolled into one, Aranyak does not rush through with the laying out of its plot details and character idiosyncrasies and yet manages to sustain an illusion of pace. It isn’t what one might describe as a heart-stopping thriller, but it is definitely one that never goes off the rails.
The show, created by Rohan Sippy, written by Charudutt Acharya and directed by Vinay Waikul, is infused with enough vigour not to lapse into laidback languor. The plot generates intrigue and suspense at every turn. Each episode signs off with a twist in the tale that serves to keep the audience invested in the murder investigation that constitutes the spine of Aranyak.
Director of photography Saurabh Goswami brings alive the mountains, the woods and the lived-in living spaces in which the story plays out. The atmospherics are spot-on. Editor Yasha Ramchandani ensures that the momentum of the show does not flag.