Adhura Review: Spooky elements and haunting atmosphere makes this predictable supernatural thriller an engaging watch
Adhura Web Series Rating: 3 Stars
Just watched Adhura Web Series on Prime Video. So, let’s analyze the cast, release date, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this web series.
Cast: Rasika Dugal, Ishwak Singh, Shrenik Arora, Poojan Chabra, Rahul Dev, Zoa Morani, Rijul Ray, Sahil Salathia, Aru Verma, Priya Banerjee, KC Shankar and Jaimini Pathak
Director: Gauravv K Chawla and Ananya Banerjee
Release Date: 7th July 2023 on Prime Video
Duration: 7 Episodes/ 40 Minutes
Story: Series is set against the backdrop of the prestigious Nilgiri Valley School nestled amidst the picturesque landscape of Ooty. Story begins with Vedant (Shrenik Arora), a quiet boy who is bullied by his classmates. One night, they lock him up in a locker, leaving him petrified when Vedant is rescued by a “mysterious” source. Things change after that incident as Vedant takes charge of incidents that take place in the school and teaches a lesson to his bullies.
School is prepping up for the reunion of their 2007 batch students, who are way more excited to meet their old friends. Adhiraj Singh (Ishwak Singh) who was the star student of the 2007 batch and now a professor at a Boston college, intends to meet his best friend Ninad Raman (Poojan Chhabra) at the reunion and put things into place that went out of hands, fifteen years ago.
Vedant is under the supervision of school’s student counsellor Ms. Supriya Ghosh (Rasika Dugal) who is advised to stay away from all the reunion activities by the Dean as he does not want to create a scene. Mysterious things start happening as soon as the reunion batch gathers for its group photograph. Adhiraj begins the search for his best friend to find out his whereabouts and asks his friends about what happened on the last day of school.
There is self-guilt and loathing in Adhiraj who wishes to make things right between himself and Ninad, once again, and in this quest of his, he goes on to unravel secrets that have been lurking in the school campus for fifteen years. Adhiraj seeks help from Supriya to gather information about Ninad and when he tries to connect the dots between Ninad and Vedant, he warns her of the impending danger. Supriya tries to help Vedant to the best of her abilities, but she has her own secrets from the past that keep haunting her. Where is Ninad? Why is Vedant doing mysterious thing? Will Adhiraj able to solve the mystery and find Ninad is all about this series.
Positives
1. Excellent Performance
2. Direction
3. Screenplay
4. Cinematography
5. Background Music
Negatives
1. Length
2. Climax
3. Unnecessary Sub-plot
4. Story Lacks Novelty
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this web-series, planned to watch this series in my free time as its engaging and scary as well.
Strange events take place in the Nilgiri Valley School that seem to be connected to Vedant, a 10-year-old new student. When the batch of 2007 returns for its reunion, Adhiraj Jaisingh, an ex-student must face what he did fifteen years ago. But things take a horrifying turn when Vedant and Adhiraj’s paths collide. A dark secret begins to reveal itself threatening the lives of everyone on campus.
Adhura have skillfully crafted a story that deals not only with horror in the form of supernatural beings but the horrors of being bullied and dealing with the horrors of one’s haunting past. Although story lacks novelty but it will keep you engage. All the characters in the series, right from the lead to the supporting cast, blend well with the storyline and have an equal role to play in the plot’s progression. The way to engage your audience in this genre is to build a solid premise where you invest in your key characters. Their journey is more interesting than the cliched jump scares that the genre offers. This is where the 7-episode series falters. Technically, the camera work and the background score both add in luring us into this dark and grey world. It works well in the portions that deal with the thriller and mystery elements. The series touches upon pertinent issues in its seven episodes, issues that make you ponder as well as make you restless. The rampant bullying in boarding schools, the blatant homophobia prevalent even among the elite in our country, post-partum depression, childhood trauma, parental neglect and mental health, all find their way into the story.
Series manage to create an engaging narrative, keeping the mystery surrounding a horrifying secret from the past at its core. Much like the flickering lights, you see glimmers of hope in the way they unravel the dark secrets of each of the characters while linking them all to the central figure of conflict Ninad. Even though the suspense is quite predictable, and the writer-director duo leaves enough pieces of the puzzle for you to comprehend the full picture, the screenplay does manage to keep you engaged with the way it exposes the layers of secrets, episode by episode. The series also suffers from a continuity problem with there being hardly any direct link between the end of an episode and the beginning of the next. The uneven, choppy manner in which the episodes end and begin does test your patience at times.
Overall, series is a decent watch despite the predictable story. A crisper screenplay and ruthless editing would have elevated it to must-watch status. It is likely to pique your interest with plenty of spooky situations to keep you on edge. The creepy elements and haunting atmospherics make even the predictable story a fairly engaging one to watch. My view on this web-series is Recommended
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