Apaharan kidnaps one to an edge-of-the-seat experience

Cast: Arunoday Singh, Nidhi Singh, Mahie Gill, Varun Badola and others

Review:4.5/5

Over the last year or so, Ekta Kapoor and her creative team at Alt Balaji, have delivered many web shows with an idea to differentiate one from another. To be fair, they have been successful in impressing us with their kind of content, cast and the calibre the OTT player has showcased.

Adding to their list of shows now is Apaharan, a crime thriller, starring Arunoday Singh, Nidhi Singh, Mahie Gill, Varun Badola and others. 

Rudra (Arunoday) is an honest cop, who is sent to three years of jail for being accused of corruption. This hampers his life with Ranjana (Nidhi Singh), his wife, who unfortunately succumbs to providing sexual pleasures to her boss, Dubey (Satyanand) in return for money. After serving the punishment for a few years, Rudra comes out of the jail and gets to know this. The desperate good cop tries his best to find a job and save his 'happily married life's but everything seems to be in vain until he meets Mahie Gill. She is supposedly the second wife of a local business tycoon, who loves his daughter Anusha (Monica Chaudhary) immensely, so much so that she feels claustrophobic about it. The two women plan her kidnap and lure Rudra in the plan, with a deal to offer a sum from the ransom. With no choice left, he agrees, but destiny has a new plan for him where not only the plan fails but he also becomes the responsible cop to solve the case where he is the accused himself. The rest of the story unfolds as Rudra plans his own fate with a lot of thought and care - making it as interesting as the plot sounds.

To be honest, the first 2-3 episodes of the series are slow and they do take time to garner the attention, but patience pays off well as the episodes after Mahie Gill's entry brings the first twist to the series. However, it is from the midpoint of the show where the excitement truly sinks in and the makers have been successful in making sure it continues till the climax. Apaharan is packed with twists and plots which makes the show binge-worthy, and kudos to the writers for holding those moments well. 

The show is shot in real locations which adds the authenticity to the story. Focusing on the dialogues, the show maintains the Uttarakhand flavour throughout, however, I personally felt that the writers could have avoided the use of abuses and balanced it with verbal cleaning. Adding them everywhere frequently did not enhance the experience. Not to forget, another interesting aspect of the show is the use of yesteryear Bollywood songs, to complement the scene and the name/describe the episodes. At first, it made me wonder the reason behind holding back the originality, but as the interest develops, these songs play a catalyst to those highly exciting moments.

Every actor in Apaharan has a distinctive role and different chemistry with each other. Arunoday delivers multiple characters very well, be it of a tough cop, a mastermind or a loving husband. On the other hand, Nidhi Singh surprises us with her role as a doting wife. Her chemistry with her husband and her boss is well demarcated. She comes across naïve but smart and supportive. Saanand's character as Dubey adds humour to the story, as his behaviour makes you laugh. His dirty minded, sex seeking attitude puts him in trouble and if it wasn't for his lighter character, the show would have been nothing but serious (and maybe a bit boring). The experienced Varun Badola shows us his negative and ruthless side as Laxman Saxena, and largely keeps the last few episodes held tightly.

To sum it up, patience is key for his series. It does take time to grasp the interest, but it also delivers thorough entertainment. Just like the name suggests the Apaharan kidnaps one to an edge-of-the-seat experience.