Janaawar, the new series from Zee5, has its heart in the right place. A rooted police procedural drama, it deals with caste discrimination in a sensitive manner and asks the question: 'How much can a person take before they turn into the animal the society wants them to be?' The problem is the route it takes to get there. Janaawar has the subtlety of a sledgehammer and dialogue so archaic that they belong in a 70s film, if not a museum. Together, this lack of finesse dulls any well-intentioned storytelling and more-than-decent performances from the principal cast.
Janaawar is set in Chhand, a small town that is divided by caste at every turn. Sub-Inspector Hemant Kumar (Bhuvan Arora) also navigates this discrimination while trying to do his duty. He finds himself trapped in a case of multiple killings that rocks the small town, all the while trying to be there for his pregnant wife.
Janaawar does not shy away from keeping caste and the inhuman treatment of the so-called 'lower caste' at the centre of its narrative. Lines like 'jaati kabhi nahi jaati' find their way into the dialogue repeatedly, driving home the point a little too loudly at times. The art of subtle narration is lost on the show and its makers, it seems.
Movie Review
Janaawar
2.5/5
Thriller
Janaawar deals with a lowly cop investigating multiple murders in a nondescript North Indian town, while also battling caste realities around him.
Director
Sachindra Vats
Cast
Bhuvan Arora, Vinod Suryavanshi, Badrul Islam, Atul Kale, Bhagwan Tiwari, Eshika Dey, Vaibhav Yashvir, Deekshha Sonalkar Tham, and Niti Kaushik
Verdict
Janaawar has its heart in the right place and is aided by solid performances, but it lacks the subtlety and finesse to truly do justice to the nuanced issues it tackles.
How the show falters
Of course, a show with casteism at its core can never be understated. But here, the show discards any attempts at finesse in a bid to be direct. This extends to the show's depiction of the plight of women and violence in general. Everything is dialled up a notch, to the point that it feels voyeuristic just to watch it all on the screen.
What salvages the show are the performances, starting with its lead, Bhuvan Arora. The actor is at the front and centre of a big project for the first time, and he proves that he has it in him to carry the responsibility. He brings both the authority of a cap and the underconfidence of a man bound by caste realities to the fore quite well. And among the principal cast, he manages to ace the accent the best. Badrul Islam and Vinod Suryavanshi are the other strong performers, both delivering memorable performances of men at the opposite ends of the caste spectrum equally convincingly.
Janaawar is also a murder mystery. But one that gets drowned in the mediocrity of its narrative. Looking at the intentions and the performances, one does wish that Janaawar had received better treatment than it eventually did.
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well.
A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism.
Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day.
Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More
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