Dark 7 White
There has definitely been a bit of a slump as far as the new releases are concerned. After the outstanding Andhaghaaram, the next new release Mane Number 13 was a total dud. Hoping that the two web series will compensate for it, I have just finished watching one of them – Dark 7 White on Zee5 and Alt Balaji. Its trailer did look promising, does the series spring up a surprise, lets find out.
Based on a novel Dark White by Shweta Brijpuria, Dark 7 White is the story of a soon to be CM who is murdered, who is the murderer. The story had the potential to be a nail biting whodunit. Instead what you get is a series of to and fro flashbacks involving politics and sex that just derail the web series. The screenplay just does not exude any thrill as far as the investigation is concerned. The main USP of a whodunit should be the investigation part that should make the audience play the guessing game. And here, it is a yawn fest to put it in a good way. In case you are wondering why this review took time when the series had released on 24th November, it is because this series put me to sleep two nights in a row! I literally had to push myself into finishing this so that you may not have to watch it. The pace is extremely slow with a bunch of sex scenes that have little to no relevance to the story and that could have done without. Additionally the name of the episodes really put me off. The dialogues and what do I say about them. They are corny and filled with expletives. Each character in every other line throws in an abuse here. Was it really an integral part of the story and required?? The music is good and well used here. Director Sattwik Mohanty has done an ordinary job. The pacing wasn’t right especially when the characters lack depth and you are just scratching the surface.
The performances do salvage some pride but not enough to save this sinking ship. Madhurima Roy is decent in a cameo. Taniya Karla as Greshma impresses. Kunj Anand as Kush is decent. Monica Chaudhary as Neelu goes overboard with her act. Nidhi Singh as Daisy has very little to do surprisingly. Jatin Sarna as Abhimanyu is an extended version of Bunty from Sacred Games though he has done a good job. Sumeet Vyas as the wily politician Yudhveer has done a good job but I may have to hold him up for his choice of roles. This Sumeet although good is far from the Sumeet of Permanent Roommates or even more recently Wakaalat From Home.
Dark 7 White had the potential to be a nail biting whodunit. Instead it is patchy and just induces sleep. Another disappointing outing this weekend. Available on Zee5 and Alt Balaji.