Dainee

First off, even though regressive superstitious beliefs are prevalent today even in metropolitan cities, I feel the series should've been set in the early 90s to make it more believable and to pack a heavier punch.

Mimi Chakraborty should've fit the lead role, but doesn't. Yes, she's supposed to be the misfit w.r.t the rest of the characters and the backdrop, but she should've at least been on the same page. Her performance feels superficial. She does somewhat redeem herself in the climax though, thanks to the action director and the makeup/effects team. The antagonist "Jaan Guru" should've felt like a caricature but with a sinister, nauseating presence. Clichéd performance by Biswajit Das.

Great supporting characters - varied, quirky. Commendable performances by everyone.

A tense, gritty narrative unfolds, with some creative, unfeigned humour sprinkled in to lighten the grim tone at times. The action is taut, relentless and quite realistic - the USP of the series. With outrageous on-screen violence in fashion these days, "Dainee" keeps things restrained yet graphic. Overall good cinematography and editing, but could've been better.

The sequence of events catches the viewer off guard at times and entertains if taken at face value. But, the little things do matter. We can't use the term "plot hole" to describe them if we are willing to suspend our collective sense of logic in addition to our disbelief, but an eye for detail and a keen sense of storytelling should be basic prerequisites, right?

And now, I'd like to throw light on something that irked me more than the story. The series looks and feels like contemporary Telugu/Malayalam content - makeup, colour-grading, action, characterisation...you name it. Repeating formulaic patterns and aesthetics on screen is fine as long as something original and culturally relevant is kept intact in a way that overpowers the "copy of a copy of a copy" aspect of it all. At the very least, I expect subtlety, originality in artistic expression and nuanced realism in storytelling when watching Bengali content. And, I daresay, a cerebral approach.

With the exception of a few well-made shows, Hoichoi usually produces mediocre original content, so there's hardly any need to discuss them. But "Dainee" had great potential, hence the need to pen down my thoughts. To sum up, it surely is one of the better ones of the lot and deserves one's time.