Bahishkarana Review: A predictable but gripping social drama with excellent performances

Bahishkarana Review: The Anjali starrer has a great premise and able performances. But the story is a bit old school and twists are predictable.

Anjali in Bahishkarana

Bahishkarana

Bahishkarana Story

The series is set in the late 90's in a small village of Peddapalli. The village head, Sivayya(Ravindra Vijay), is a womanizer, and Darshi(Sritej) works under him. One fine day, a courtesan named Pushpa(Anjali) arrives at the village and becomes Siavayya's mistress. Darshi is given the responsibility of taking care of Pushpa but, in turn, falls in love with Pushpa and decides to marry her. Even Pushpa says okay, and when they reveal the same to Sivayya, he cleverly gets Darshi married to someone else. Darshi loses hope in life and is also framed in a murder case. What did Pushpa do to save Darshi? What is Darshi's wife, Lakshmi's(Ananya Nagalla) role in all this? What happened to Saivayya at the end? To know the answers, stream the six-episode series on Zee 5.

Bahishkarana Review

Bahishkarana again sheds light on the influential people in small villages and how they look upon poor people and exploit them as per their needs. Mukesh Prajapathi has written and directed this series with Anjali, Ravindra Vijay, and Sritej in lead roles. The aspect that catches your imagination when you start watching the series is the production design and basic setup. The period setup and the dark theme of the show are executed in a superb manner.

Director Mukesh has written very strong characters and plays around them in detail. The first episode itself reveals all the crime and is quite interesting. It is only in the second episode that things get into the flashback and showcase the journey of each character. Bahishkarana is an adult drama that is easy to understand and has few twists. But the aspect that holds our attention till the end is the drama that director Mukesh elevates till the end.

Each character has a purpose and the way he extracted performance from each of his cast is the best part of the series. Bahishkarana is a series that is filled with limited characters and amazing performances. But one of the most significant drawbacks of the show is that it is predictable. There are a few eye-opening twists, and the ones showcased are also easily predictable.

The director, Mukesh, should have added a few more backstories to make things interesting, as Bahishkarana runs on a single thread. Though there are only six episodes in total, one gets a feeling that you are watching a lengthy show. But all this can be overlooked as the director maintains a solid mood from the show's beginning.

The love story between Anjali and Sritej is entirely organic and is not stretched. The emotions flow in a breezy manner and how one gets attracted to each other is showcased neatly. The character of the hero's friend is also added neatly to the narrative.

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In the performances, Anjali leads from the front and plays a bold role for the first time in her career. She, as Puspa, holds our attention. Her dialogue delivery, screen presence, and delivery are top-notch and do not give out any vulgar vibe, though Anjali plays a prostitute in the film. One can say that Bhaishkarana is one of her most settled performances in recent times.

Sritej is a hidden talent and has been around for a long time now. He gets a solid role in Darshi and excels. Be it his rugged look, or the way he holds his emotions within himself and explodes at the end is showcased superbly by the actor. The casting of Bahishkarana is top-notch as Ravindra Vijay in the role of a village head is superb. He brings a lot of depth and darkness to the series with his portrayal of a womanizer who does not show it on the outside.

Ananya Nagalla is getting better with each project, and in Bahishkarana, she gets a key role and is impressive. She is silent for the most part but stuns us with her transformation in the latter episodes. The rest of the cast is amazing and does their parts to the best of their abilities.

Director Mukesh has worked hard on the location scouting, and due to this, his visuals take us back in time. The camera work is amazing as it captures the bygone lanes in small villages and how the lifestyle is led by a backward cast; all this is showcased in a beautiful manner.

The production, makeup, and costume designs are also to the point. The dialogue by Shayam is top-notch, and the in-depth meaning of how the poor are treated by the rich without taking any jibe towards a community is showcased in a solid manner.

Bahishkarana has a unique vibe and is a dark village drama with top-notch performances. However, the story is a bit old school, and twists are predictable. The manner in which the last episode leads the way to the second season makes things interesting enough.

Bahishkarana Verdict

On the whole, Bahishkarana is a gritty village drama that has a fantastic cast, able performances, and decent drama. But the storyline is old school, and the twists are predictable. If you ignore this aspect, Bahishkarana has enough meat that make up for a decent watch on Zee 5.

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