An engrossing thriller laced with dark humour
REVIEW: Based mostly in Mumbai, ‘Sunflower’ revolves round a homicide that happens in a middle-class housing society of the identical title. When Mumbai cops— Digendra (Ranvir Shorey) and Chetan Tambe (Girish Kulkarni) start investigating the case, they think practically everybody. Nonetheless, Sonu Singh (Sunil Grover), a simpleton residing in the identical society, is drawn into the homicide thriller and turns into the prime suspect. What occurs subsequent varieties the crux of the story.
This partaking eight-part situational crime comedy is co-written by Vikas Bahl (writer-director of well-liked Bollywood movies ‘Queen’ and ‘Super30’) and Chaitali Parmar. Together with Rahul Sengupta, Vikas wears the director’s hat on this collection, which marks his digital debut as effectively. Proper from the beginning, the viewers is conscious of how one of many society’s occupants (Raj Kapoor) died. But it surely’s the narrative—which revolves across the investigation proceedings and the way everybody suits into the suspect class—that has been curiously penned down with a touch of humour and loads of thrills.
The screenplay is intriguing all through, because of its quirky characters with odd tics and traits that outline them, in addition to the subplots that mix effectively into this character-driven plot. As an example, Sonu Singh, a 35-year-old eccentric salesperson with Obsessive-compulsive dysfunction (OCD), retains every part completely organised—from his foot mat to every part on his work desk. Dilip Iyer (Ashish Vidyarthi) is one other character who aspires to be the chairman of Sunflower Society to be able to make it a happier place to stay. Think about he has a committee of members that interview everybody who needs to remain on this society and have stringent guidelines in opposition to permitting single folks, divorcees, queers, and so forth. Then there’s Mr Ahuja (Mukul Chadda), a lecturer by occupation with a smirky look and a courteous manner, and his ever-supportive spouse (Radha Bhatt). Total, the vast majority of the scenes revolve round a small group of society members, depicting every part from inside society politics to nosy neighbours.
Whereas the primary few episodes hold you hooked primarily because of the involvement of so many characters and their private lives, in addition to their hyperlink to the crime, there are some that drag on, particularly these involving Sonu caring for Mr. Tondon (Sameer Kakkar). Ideally, the shorter episodes and tight modifying (by Konark Saxena) would have aided the plot’s development whereas sustaining the present’s tempo. The background rating composed by Sahej Bakshi and Vesh Shrivastava is fascinating and enhances the story effectively.
Sunil Grover performs Sonu Singh to perfection, by no means straying from his position as a lonely man with no social circle attributable to his unusual behaviour. Sonu solely speaks to his mom and enjoys partaking in prolonged conversations with telemarketing callers. He has his personal algorithm, comparable to “In friendship, no sorry, no thanks, and no udhaar (mortgage),” – how filmi! He additionally retains the identical naive expressions all through, which is able to undoubtedly remind a number of the ardent followers of his well-liked comedic persona ‘Gutthi’.
Each the police inspectors, Ranvir Shorey as a no-nonsense cop and Girish Kulkarni as his sidekick within the investigation, give earnest performances whereas discovering the lacking items of the puzzle. The shudh-hindi conversations and expressions of Mr Ahuja (performed by Mukul Chadda) are excellent. His on-screen spouse Radha Bhatt has just a few traces, however her response to her husband’s persistent paranoia is compelling.
To sum up, whereas the notion of presenting a homicide thriller with a way of humour is exclusive in some elements, the collection’ laid-back execution could make it tedious to observe at instances. Regardless, this eight-part collection will hold you entertained for many components — with its bizarre but relatable characters and a few stunning deeds.
