Abhay season 3 review: Kunal Kemmu aces his supercop avatar in the new world created by Ken Ghosh

3/5

Story:

Abhay Pratap Singh, known to solve unsolvable cases, faces an unusual turmoil this time when a cult gets involved in his personal and professional life. Abhay 3 is divided into a psychotic couple's case and the case of the cult members who 'do not fear death or killing'.

Review:

Abhay season 3 tries to go the Sacred Games 2 way. It taps into bizarre and the very obvious thing is the logo (infinity symbols) at the absolute beginning of the series. Since it is directed by Ken Ghosh of State of Siege: Temple Attack helmer, the expectations are higher and Abhay does meet those expectations to a point.

Finally, we get to meet Abhay's son Saahil, who was missing in season 2. Adding him to the series builds the suspense once again and is rather a smart decision.

Kunal Kemmu plays three roles - the protective dad Abhay, supercop Abhay Pratap Singh and a mean, ruthless killer and he pulls off all the roles with equal conviction. It is almost like you are taken back to the first season, only this time you know so much more about the story that it becomes intriguing.

Divya Agarwal (Harleen) and Tanuj Virwani (Kabir) are sure to appeal to the young crowd. They are the IT couple and individually, are a surprise factor too. Divya's Harleen, especially, could take you aback too.

Asha Negi (Sonam Khanna) is effective as an actor this time around too. She is unpredictable and scary and expresses most of that with her facial expressions. Her character will take you back to Elnaaz Nourozi's Natasha, who had a similar character graph with a different storyline.

Nidhi Singh (Khushboo) had started investigating her own partner, Abhay. She is back at it and slowly but steadily gets back in her character as a proud and ever-suspecting police officer.

Vidya Malvade has a story of her own. She comes out-of-the-blue and leaves you confused. Before you know it, Vijay Raaz (Dr. Aman Sinha) joins the madness as a paranomal being. However, their story takes long to become central, since the focus of the first two episode is #KaHar (Kabir and Harleen) and later, you simply see the pawns led out by the two masterminds.

While Vidya takes longer, Vijay Raaz is impressive from his first scene. The minute you get a hint of his character, there is a lot there to intrigue you.

Like always, Abhay is a commercial series and so, you can expect to be entertained even in the serious show. Nonetheless, it manages to show two sides of a workplace - one where people actually want to work and the other where people make excuses. A scene featuring (Nidhi) and a watch guard shows that perfectly.

Devendar Choudhary as inspector Awasthi is the cool uncle who entertains you. It was always cute to see him try in front of Abhay but seeing him be so active on social media is a welcomed surprise.

Music has always created suspense in Abhay series and this time is no different. The music does add to the suspense but it drags on. The whole Sacred Games rip-off (supernatural force and the intent to cleanse the world through a cult) does not really work well for this season because honestly, we don't need another Sacred Games 2.

Rahul Dev enters the show mid-way. His entry is simply mediocre, especially since he is part of a powerful cult led by Dr. Aman but doesn’t scare you as much as Vijay's Dr. Aman or even Vidya Malvade's character managed to.

As the story moves forward though, you realize that his character graph matches that of the DC superhero, Green Arrow. They both were the king of the jungle and used the minimal means (arrow) for the most powerful impact. Rahul Dev, though, makes use of guns too but when it comes to his homeground, an arrow is just enough. If Green Arrow were to be brainwashed since childhood, it would probably be like Rahul Dev's character.

Rituraj Singh comes in a brief appearance again. He is as effective as he can be in his role as Abhay's senior inspector, KD.

The fight between Sonam and Khushboo was long-awaited but much-welcomed. Being trained assassins, it is only a game of who wins and loses.

The one good thing about Abhay is that it goes back in time and explains how the cult originated and people joined in. While that is a pro, the con is also that. Abhay season 1 specialized in bringing forth new stories of crime that were gory and needed to be solved. Season 2 also had a strong antagonist in Ram Kapoor who simply touched the brim as he made Abhay dance on his fingers. Here, though, Vijay Raaz as Dr. Aman leads the story for at least three episodes directly or indirectly and honestly, that's a drag when it comes to a character like Abhay who solves crimes within the blink of an eye.

Abhay fighting himself to live or die is quite a scene and Kunal performs it with a lot of conviction. The actor has another surprise in store for the viewers. Unfortunately, even though it is surprising, something seems off in the big revelation scene. It is almost a downhill from there till Abhay actually gets back up and takes control.

There are so many ironies in this series. 'Mrutyu' Vijay Raaz who doesn't fear death and leads others to the part of death actually gets scared when Abhay puts a knife through his hand. It just goes on to show how many people, whether in a cult or otherwise, wear a mask which unfolds only when reality strikes them hard.

Abhay season 3 plays with your mind. It takes scenes and spins it into different realities. From Natasha constantly talking to Abhay to his and Saahil's scene being recreated in real life, Abhay goes the psychological way this time around.

Verdict:

Abhay 3 starts off on a good note and does pretty well for the first few episodes but it tends to drag on-and-on towards the end. Abhay is known to not spend much time on one case and so, seeing this drag is a disappointment. While we all love Kunal Kemmu and Vijay Raaz as actors, there comes a time when you need a breath of fresh air, which Abhay season 3 fails to offer.

Ken Ghosh also divides his focus. He starts off Abhay 3 by telling the tale of a psychotic couple that loves killing people for fun. While that holds on to the theme for the show, Abhay 3 takes a Sacred Games turn in the second half. You see 'Mrutyu' Vijay Raaz and a world full of paranormal activities and beliefs, none of which really fits into the charm of Abhay's world. Honestly, why would anybody want to see something like Sacred Games 2 (a cult brainwashing people into doing something when they are lost) again? If you remove that part (which makes for more than half the chunk of Abhay 3), this series is at par with its previous seasons and even fun to watch at many places. After that, it's just a very weird and bizzare world we didn't ask for.

Instead, Divya Agarwal and Tanuj Virwani, who simply made an appearance in the first two episodes, deserved more screen time. They came from two different worlds who led a different life but were the ideal social media couple who also loved killing. If you tell me that isn't a psychotic story you want to explore more (obviously not as much as the cult has been explored), then you haven't seen enough psychological thrillers in your life. Go do that and start with Psycho or The Gone Girl already!

Since you cannot watch Abhay 3 without knowing what happened in the previous installments, we would suggest you to either watch this series for two-four episodes if you are a fan of the world created by the makers or completely skip it. Full marks to Ken Ghosh for trying to bring in a new world with Abhay 3 but he probably should have stopped at it early on because after a point, this world and Abhay (not Kunal but the show) loses its charm. Kunal is charming as ever and so are all the actors involved in this series. While many reappear, the new actors like Divya Agarwal, Tanuj Virwani, Vijay Raaz, Vidya Malvade and Rahul Dev fit right in the series to a great extent. It is their acting that makes the series watchable at large.