Tandav: Could Have Been Much More Exciting
Yogendra is freelance writer
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By Yogendra
First publised on 2021-01-19 11:35:10
About the Author
Yogendra is freelance writer
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Tandav is not as bad as it is being made out by the critics. Having said that, given the story and the ensemble star cast it could have been much better. Also, one feels that the controversy over the series is meaningless as it has nothing objectionable, if you don't consider showing politicians as they are shown in the series objectionable. In fact, the makers have balanced the the recent real life incidents which show the intolerance prevalent in the country today with frequent references to the Emergency and the dictatorial ways of Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay.
The first episode lays down the rules. There is nothing sacrosanct in politics and a son murdering his father is par for the course when the kursi is up for grabs. Saif Ali Khan has his best moment when he sits, with two drinks, near the body of his father and pours his heart out to the dead man on why he had to take the extreme step. The story then starts moving with backroom politics, deadly machinations and a student's movement getting equal footage.
Samar Pratap (Saif Ali Khan) thinks he can be the prime minister if he kills his overbearing father Devki Nandan (Timangshu Dhulia) who has been the PM for the last two terms. But he hasn't reckoned with what Anuradha Kishore (Dimple Kapadia) , a senior party member who doubled up as his father's paramour, would do when she comes to know about the crime. She manipulates him to grab the chair herself after first a doctor performing the autopsy and then an anonymous caller alerts her about the murder. But she has secrets of her own and can be equally ruthless.
But Samar Pratap is not one to let go easily. He puts his henchman Gurpal (Sunil Grover) on the job and he discovers many things which force Anuradha to relinquish the chair. Samar springs a surprise by naming Gopal Das (Kumud Mishra) as the interim prime minister. As a parallel thread, the student's movement at the VNU (with real life scenarios as the azaadi speech from JNU and leaders like the ones there) is thrown in and in the fight between the Left and the Right, some murders also take place. Samar wants to use the student leader to get back at the party but he does not agree to join him. There are many loose threads in this story. Maybe the second season will tie them up.
Saif Ali Khan looks good as Samar and acts well in some scenes. Dimple does likewise. But both are capable of much better. It is Sunil Grover, silent, menacing and omnipresent, who steals the show. Gauhar Khan as Maithili Saran, who is Anuradha's henchwoman, is equally dark and impressive. Zeeshan Ayub as the student leader Shiva Sekhar and Kritika Karma as his comrade also catch the eye. The story of Dino Morea and Sandhya Mridul, both professors at VNU, is needlessly put in.
The promise showed in the first episode is not fulfilled in the rest of the show as it meanders aimlessly without explaining things properly. But since a second season is obviously on the cards, viewers must wait to find the answers. Why has Samar Pratap not taken over as the PM? Where has Maithili vanished? What will Anuradha do next? Who is the anonymous caller and how much does he know? What will Shiva Sekhar do next? One only hopes that the director (Ali Abbas Zafar) will handle the show better in the next season.
