The Raikar Case Web Series Review: The Thriller Is A Surprise For Whodunit Fans

Available On: Voot Select

Duration: 7 episodes/ 35 minutes

Language: Hindi

Story: The Raikar Case follows Goa's biggest, wealthiest and a well-respected family. However, their house of lies begins to crumble when their youngest commits suicide, and the police officer in charge is convinced that one of the family members is responsible for his death.

Review: The whodunit thriller is a story about the expectations and loyalty in a family that leads to broken relationships, greed, and lies. But The Raikar Case is more than just about the Raikars, the show also questions ethics in business, politics and life. It leads you to believe what may seem as the truth at first, but may not be the complete truth.

The show starts with Tarun's voiceover giving the audience a glimpse of his family and the only member in the family who understands him, his sister Itasha. We then see Itasha trying to stop Tarun from jumping off the cliff, but she fails. She wonders if she would have answered his calls and reached the cliff earlier that night, she could have saved him. After hearing the news of his passing, Itasha heads home to check on Tarun's mother who is in pieces and the other members of the family can be seen trying their best to get through the tough times with each other's support.

First ruled as a suicide, the police began wrapping up the case and the press presents the Raikar family as a victim. But the high profile case lands into SP John Pereira's lap and he begins investigation because of the blunt trauma mark on Tarun's forehead, which took place before his heart gave in. Calling it a murder John walks into the Raikar house, amid the victim's wake and arrests the family's head, his first suspect in the murder case.

Even as the episode proceeds you can see the family is not as perfect as it seems, the father trusts his daughter more than his son, declaring him as a disappointment publicly. The sister's husband and daughter being treated as extras who are just called when the family needs to look at its best. The little hints give away that the audience are in for a ride, and the makers have done right by the show and its characters.

While the thriller is a well-written effort by Bijesh Jayarajan, Anaitha Nair and director Aditya Sarpotdar, the show has a few loopholes. Why the forensic would rule it out as a suicide despite the bloody mark being right in their eyesight, why didn't the cops first began the search for the weapon? Why was no one brought in for questioning at first, and were instead directly arrested before gathering any proof?

There are also subplots in each episode that, eventually explain everything, but overcrowd the main plotline. Several scenes also come off as repetitive and dull. While another plot about Itasha and John's love story seems unnecessary to the story. A cop can be a cop, and do everything in his power to solve a crime or save a victim without actually falling for her. The story also takes several detours as soon as it gets closer to the killer and it quickly gets old.

However, it doesn't matter because you will continue to enjoy the thriller, thanks to a strong star cast including Atul Kulkarni, Neil Bhoopalam, Ashvini Bhave, Parul Gulati, Kunal Karan Kapoor and Lalit Prabhakar. In fact, Lalit and Ashvini's characters were one of the best written, until the last episode, where things are taken too far. I still wanted to see Ashvini's character continue on that path, but as for Lalit's Eklavya, it became hard to watch. On the other hand, Neil Bhoopalam's SP John Pereira is shown as a tough cop in the first episode but the focus is quickly moved to Parul Gulati's Itasha, who comes off genuine and perfectly clueless as her character has been left in the dark all along.

She feels what the audience is supposed to feel- cheated, into believing that this family was perfect and good. Each character has a convincing arc, it's easy to understand and see them turn into who they truly are. The end will leave you shocked and wondering, 'what will happen to the Raikar family now?'

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