PremiumGyaarah Gyaarah Review: Raghav Juyal starrer has a lot of substance but a whole lot is left unanswered
Gyaarah Gyaarah brings back Karan Johar and Guneet Monga after the brilliant Kill but is it as potent as the film?
Last Updated: 09.35 AM, Aug 08, 2024
Gyaarah Gyaarah Review: Plot - In Dehradun, young police officer Yug Arya (Raghav Juyal) witnessed a kidnapping as a child. He has grown up determined to bring justice to the deceased. Now, he leads a team of police officers to solve cases. However, there's a twist. He suddenly receives transmissions from a police officer named Shaurya Antwal, but the problem is that Shaurya existed years ago. Now, Yug is communicating with a man from the past, and they help each other solve cases.
Gyaarah Gyaarah Review: Analysis
This might turn out to be a very short review because, firstly, no spoilers; secondly, there is no context given for the biggest mystery of the show that has been left hanging with no real indication that it will be resolved in the new season. So, when an Indian production house decided to remake a Korean show called Signal into an Indian adaptation that boils down the 16-episode show into an 8-episode concoction, does it manage to hold the show’s soul? Well, it does and it doesn't. There is so much to explore in a sci-fi drama that travels between time and era and has the job of being relatable and believable even with a concept that is not real, at least in the immediate world. Gyaarah Gyaarah gets that first layer just right.
Written by Puja Banerji with Sunjoy Shekhar and directed by Umesh Bist, Gyaarah Gyaarah stands as a good example of how to marinate an adaptation into a rooted approach where it doesn't look borrowed or like token representation. The show looks real, as if it was written for the Indian landscape, because it smoothly travels between decades without feeling like a weird experience. The credit goes to writing that is not hell-bent on emphasizing the period but rather on fleshing out characters that exist within it. Exactly at 11:11 every night, these worlds collide, and the lines blur for us to see. The show, which opens as a slow burner, manages to pique our curiosity to the maximum as there is so much to be explored.
Gyaarah Gyaarah takes the approach where the team remains the same, but the cases keep changing. The biggest drawback of the format, made mostly for long-format television, is that it never allows us to invest in a case completely to the point where we are rooting for any of the parties. However, the Raghav Juyal starrer tackles that problem by taking its time in developing cases and the criminals well. Not so much in the last couple of episodes, though, because the focus certainly shifts to the police team. This is where Gyaarah Gyaarah also struggles because it comes to this point a bit too late in the course of the show.
For example, Kritika Kamra plays Vamika, a police officer who might have been in love with her senior once but has refused to get married for the past 15 years. The way she is introduced to the show—as a woman with a mother who forces her to see the matches she has found—is the most stereotypical trope for a lady cop character. The same goes for Yug Arya, played by Juyal, who never really gets a story that goes beyond his conversations with Shaurya and his running around to solve cases. Who is he? We do not know. Dhairya Karwa as Shaurya is a treat because he becomes the most well-developed character on the show, managing to bring out the tension, confusion, and emotions.
The biggest problem with Gyaarah Gyaarah is that it never really cares to explain to the viewers what mess it has laid out. Like, why are we even watching two men from two different decades talk in real-time? There is a possibility that we might be told about how this is possible in the next season, but where is the hint that there is one? The cliffhangers feel more like open endings and never the teases for the next season. You will feel like you missed an episode where all of this was explained, but there is actually none.
Gyaarah Gyaarah is visually very one-note because the lighting never feels natural. You can feel someone holding an artificial light around all the time, and that is not how it is supposed to be. The music department ends up adding too much at points. Its urge to tap into the television audience is visible too. Also, why are people not visually aging in this world? Fifteen years make a lot of difference to an adult, but these people look the same, perhaps with better hairstyles.
Gyaarah Gyaarah Review: Final Verdict
Gyaarah Gyaarah is an adaptation that is rooted but expects the audience to stick with it for another season, while this one remains highly confusing and borderline incomplete.
Gyaarah Gyaarah releases on the Zee5 on August 9, 2024. Stay tuned to OTTplay for more information on this and everything else from the world of streaming and films.