Khalbali Records (Season 1)
Introduction
In an early scene in Khalbali Records, the new Hindi show streaming on Jio Cinema, you see an artist performing live on stage before shockingly been shot at and succumbing to the same. Instantly, the start of the show reminded me of the other Hindi/Punjabi show Chamak, a fictionalized take on the death of yesteryear’s artist Amar Singh Chamkila who was also shot down during his performance in a mysterious manner. And just when I thought that this was again headed the whodunnit way, the drama changed course completely to showcase a rivalry between a huge music label versus the one that was just finding its feet. And the possibilities of going deep in this subject with respect to the politics of the arena was endless, and something that had me curious on what the show had to offer. But the writing decides to be content with being middling with scenarios and situations that just about scratch the surface without quite raising the stakes in the drama. This is by no means bad as such but it lacks the zing and the eccentricity that you would generally associate with a subject matter like this (remember Chamak?). And much of the middling writing has got to do with the cliched plot points that are interspersed throughout the screenplay.
Story & Screenplay
The story of the death of a singer followed by the origin of his dream rebel music label and the eventual face-off with the music industry giants ought to have been an exciting one but the wavelength of the writing remains mid. And some of the flaws with the writing does lie with the characterization wherein you don’t feel an emotional connect with the characters. The binary nature of the writing does ensure that almost all characters deal with binary emotions that do not necessarily form an arc at any point in the screenplay standing at 8 episodes of roughly 30 odd to 40 odd minutes each. As a result, even the screenplay boasts of conflicts that aren’t as threatening with even simpler doses of resolution that never give you that high which is expected in a drama about the music industry. Also, 8 episodes here did feel like a stretch at times particularly because the writing just went around in circles after a point.
The drama does create an interesting skeleton with its premise – the formation of a rival music label coupled with the challenges that are faced including having to deal with the obstacles offered by the giant labels of the music industry. To add a little stake in the drama is the protagonist who was witness to the murder of an artist on stage while taking up the responsibility to fulfill his dream, and giving up on the idea of succeeding his father who is the head honcho of the biggest company in the field of music. And hence, the conflict was an interesting one which ought to have gone beyond the shores of regular tropes in the screenplay by atleast willing to offer a psychological angle in his journey. But despite the challenges that he faces, at no point in the screenplay did I feel curious on how he would overcome an obstacle thrown towards him.
Some of the subplots are also interesting – a character accusing a co-artist of a s*xual misconduct only for the music label to setup a POSH committee for the sake of documentation. But the writing doesn’t quite get into the minute details of the subplot while being in a hurry to resolve it abruptly, and eventually linking the subplot to the bearings of the main plot. Similarly, you see subplots involving some of the other characters which again ought to have been with respect to their individual vulnerabilities in the big bad world of music, but alas, the plot was devoid of it. At the start of every episode, there is a brief flashback involving the life of the artist who was murdered at the start of the show, but at no point did the writing offer an emotional angle to the plot that would allow the viewers to invest in, and seeth in anger for yhe injustice that was served.
One of the biggest flaws in the writing was the fact that the murder plot was conveniently brushed aside while not even remotely addressing the folks behind the murder of an artist who was immensely popular. The focus remained on the game of upmanship between the two music labels that did add a monotonous layer in the drama that was reflective of the lag in the screenplay towards the latter half of the show. This is because the writing did not have anything new to say while simply beating by the bush, with equations getting tense and resolved in a matter of scenes before digressing into a final act that was decent but nothing to shout about. In between the politics of the industry was in play but the writing was just surface level that never preferred to scratch beneath the surface. In other words, the screenplay is safe and middling that never pushes the envelope and realises its full potential.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are good and go well in sync with the mood and the theme of the drama. Now, because the drama was based around music, the music here needed to be the hero of the drama with umpteen banger numbers that would create an atmosphere of intrigue. And while the music is decent, it definitely isn’t out of the world either (and it also didn’t help that Jio Cinema did not promote any of the songs and thereby popularize them). The songs are peppy and well in sync with the drama but a breakthrough number was missing! The BGM does its bit to raise the drama at various junctures but the screenplay continues to pull it down. The cinematography coupled with the lighting tries to get the ambience of the drama in the trippy zone but for that to fully have made an impact, the writing needed to add a layer of intensity and eccentricity to fully succeed. The editing is decent but ought to have been sharper. Director Devanshu Singh does a decent job too but he doesn’t quite rise above the chains of the screenplay by elevating the impact of any scene in particular. The characterization followed by the simplistic level of the conflicts are a major deterrent here wherein even the direction remains mid.
Performances
The creative decision to have actual musicians act in their respective parts resulted in a mixed bag as far as the outcome was concerned. Ahmer, EPR Iyer, Zander Lama and Aritro Banerjee are great while performing but they are slightly off tune while mouthing dialogues. The timing in their dialogue delivery is missing. On the other hand, Prabhdeep as Mauj does make his presence felt and does a pretty solid job. Sanghmitra Hitachi as Monali has an incredible screen presence and she does a good job as well particularly after a slightly wobbly start to her character in terms of emotions on show. Kumar Varun as Jatin and Vaarun Bhagat as Phantom are good additions on the show and they do a good job. Prakash Belawadi as Shetty is decent but the writing of his character needed to be more shrewd and conniving. Armaan Khera as Jaz is sincere and earnest. Salonie Patel as Lekha has a good screen presence and she does a fairly good job. Vikas Verma as Tashan is alright but often goes overboard with his character.
Saloni Batra as Ananya is phenomenal and quite honestly the best performer on the show. She is assertive while dealing with a moral dilemma while also being offered an arc of redemption, and she does a stupendous job while bringing quite a few emotions to the table. Ram Kapoor as MRS does what he does best, expressing wonderfully well despite having a one-note to his character. Skand Thakur as Raghav is decent but the impact that the protagonist should have had is a little missing here. While he remains sincere with his act, the writing doesn’t offer too many variations for Skand to showcase his talent.
Conclusion
The first season of Khalbali Records is a middling drama about the ugly rivalry of the music industry that lacks the zing owing to a simplistic screenplay that threatens but continues to remain safe and generic. Available on Jio Cinema.
