Ab Hoga Hisaab review: Mouni Roy, Shaheer Sheikh-led show offers loads of drama but little insight

Ab Hoga Hisaab review: The revenge drama set in Punjab also stars Sanjay Kapoor, Avinash Mishra and Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia.

Ab Hoga Hisaab

Cast: Sanjay Kapoor, Shaheer Sheikh, Mouni Roy, Avinash Mishra, Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia, Harman Singha and Aasheema Vardaan

Director: Divyanshu Malhotra

Star rating: ★★

Where to watch: Amazon MX Player

Ab Hoga Hisaab review; Shaheer gives a fine performance in the show.

Shaheer Sheikh's Bobby is deported from Canada in the first few minutes of Ab Hoga Hisaab, the new show on Amazon MX Player. Though we get little insight into the whys and hows, it is suggested that he was saving up and starting to do better than what was expected out of him and many others like him. So, when Bobby returns to Punjab to be with his family and take care of them, he also decides that he would make sure his younger brother Bunty Manocha (Avinash Mishra), will be sent to Canada for a better future.

But why? Didn't he just get a bitter pill about how working-class immigrants are treated in a different country? Why would he still want to send Bunty to Canada knowing that there is danger so far away from home?

The premise

Ab Hoga Hisaab accumulates a lot of these questions along the way, as the plot thickens around 10 episodes. These are characters that exist as archetypes, intended for taking the plot forward. They lack nuance, existing without the emotional complexity that could have provided much more weight to the show rather than the excessive zeal to add more chaos and drama.

We will also meet Sanjay Kapoor's Goldy, who runs a notorious network of organ trade. He is a cold-blooded kingpin who lures hundreds of naive youngsters with the promise of a brighter future abroad and then sedates them, and uses their organs for trafficking. Safeguarding the empire beside him is Mouni Roy's Kamna. She gets embroiled in the mess in a subplot that was predictable from a mile away.

Movie Review

Ab Hoga Hisaab

2/5

Set in Punjab, the series centres on two brothers – Bobby and Bunty Manocha, whose lives are upended after Bunty vanishes following an encounter with a powerful figure named Goldy.

Director

Divyanshu Malhotra

Cast

Sanjay Kapoor, Shaheer Sheikh, Mouni Roy, Avinash Mishra, Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia, Harman Singha and Aasheema Vardaan

As the title suggests, Ab Hoga Hisaab is preoccupied with its core theme of revenge involving the two brothers, whose lives are irrevocably altered by a single defining moment. Working with a story by Sudeep Nigam and Namit Sharma, Divyanshu Malhotra sets off to position this story as a tale where violence begets violence, where there is no place for the good to survive amidst the inevitable corruption. But instead of asking why, these characters merely comply and transform into people they once resented. As the plot thickens and the drama unfolds in the later episodes, the show feels restless and desperate to add more twists, present more unresolved issues.

Shaheer's performance almost saves the show

Shaheer tries hard to bring in some restraint and poise in Bobby, but the writing often demands him to be brazen and inconsistent to his own feelings. In a fair and just industry, the actor would have become a superstar by now. Here, he is miles above the rest of the cast in his ability to infuse remorse as the story unfolds. Ab Hoga Hisaab remains watchable mostly for his sure-footed performance. Special mention for Avinash Mishra's screen presence here, who fits the bill for Bunty and plays his free-spiritedness quite well.

Grim, loud and atmospheric, Ab Hoga Hisaab demands no accountability, only chase. It revels in its storytelling instinct without having to face the questions. The story involves relevant and important socio-political issues at its core, but there is no investment in asking the tough questions. So, even as the show is set of Punjab, there is a certain remove from its land, from the demands of its aggressive politics. It feels strangely alienated and scattershot. At ten episodes, Ab Hoga Hisaab feels stretched beyond its limits, left to chew more than it can bite. For a show that hinges on anger and violence, there is little room for asking what's left after it is unleashed.