Duranga Review: Gulshan Devaiah And Drashti Dhami's Series Is Vaguely Interesting But Not Exactly Thrilling

Duranga, a nine-episode crime-thriller web series with a runtime of around 33 minutes each, is an official remake of the 2020 Korean drama series Flower of Evil and is directed by Aijaz Khan. In the series, one-time convicted serial killer Bala Banne's (Zakir Hussain) progeny appears to be following in his footsteps. The brother and sister duo may have parted ways in childhood, but an ongoing series of murders keep linking up to their childhood antecedents - so their current lives are in constant upheaval.

The series details the lives of metal artist Sammit Desai (Gulshan Devaiah) and his family - his wife, a crime branch cop Ira (Drashti Dhami), and his precocious little daughter who he lovingly refers to as 'caterpillar'. Ira begins investigating multiple murders, which inevitably lead her to discover shocking revelations about her husband's twisted past.

Sammit, though emotionally dysfunctional, is the ideal family man. Not only is he a great cook, he also takes care of his little daughter's needs while his wife is busy solving crimes. Their love story may have been unconventional.

Ira is the pursuant who convinces him that he loves her and conveniently decides that it's not really necessary for her to know about his past. It's the kind of contrived set-up that only a lack of imagination could have set into motion.

The series had potential - if you go by the kind of viewership the original Flower of Evil entertained. But the adaptation into an Indian, pre-dominantly Maharashtrian milieu doesn't quite work up interest. The narrative flow is hampered by a studied unyielding pace, the twists are many but they just seem to be happening with a deliberation that is haphazardly manufactured. Episodes lack a gravitating tempo and the background score only comes alive when the narrative needs some added intrigue-push.

While Duranga is pretty much faithful to its origins, its narrative craft doesn't appear to be as happening. It's difficult to subsume Korean culture into an Indian one and the moral threads are way too unhinged.

It's hard to believe in a cop who trusts her husband so much that she is willing to overlook every obvious fault - and that too when the impression she is giving is that of an upright no-nonsense officer of the law. Red herrings are strewn across the narrative as though every person (other than the cops and the little kid) have some heinous criminal act to hide. Too much of the narrative runtime is taken up in establishing the lead actors' expressions.

There's really no pace to this telling and the actors also seem rather wide-eyed, while vigor, vitality, and dynamism are missing from the frames. It's as though the makers expected this series to do well anyway - so not much effort appears to have been expended to make this lethargic telling more gripping.

Title: Duranga

Duration: 9 episodes 33 mins each

Platform: Zee5.