Shehar Lakhot Review: Priyanshu Painyuli, Kubbra Sait's show is all over the place

It’s safe to say that hinterland crime stories and businessman-politician nexus are on verge of saturation in Indian OTT space. new web series from Amazon Prime, Shehar Lakhot comes with that baggage and with challenge of bringing something new to table. Although series is created by credible writer-filmmakers like Navdeep Singh and Devika Bhagat, challenges remain intact for Shehar Lakhot as makers struggle to break out of limitations that genre brings.

Hot Take

Shehar Lakhot is set in Rajasthan and captures socio-political grittiness of its milieu. series is essentially told from point of view of Dev (Priyanshi Painyuli), a middleman from Gurugram who arrives in anor city on his boss’ instructions and finds himself entangled in broer labyrinth of its socio-political underbelly. However, as we trod along narrative, story makes space for many people who are a part of that universe and have been dealing with its murky realities for many years.

Does Shehar Lakhot live up to hype?

Despite its moments of brilliance and good performances from its ensemble cast, Shehar Lakhot remains too convoluted for large parts and does not make for an engaging watch. It remains passable at best.

storyline is scattered

problem with show that it opens too many thres, too many plotlines even as central conflict point is missing. Dev’s struggle to come out unscad from a situation seems equally important as Pallavi’s (Kubbra Sait) quest to find out truth behind a mindless murder. It becomes too much to handle because show focuses on all its sub-plots with an equal intensity. Given complexity of plot, it gets too much to handle viewer.   show does introduce an intriguing twist around halfway mark but doesn’t build up to grand revelation effectively enough.

It’s not that Shehar Lakhot doesn’t manage to get us to care for its characters or be emotionally invested in m. But after building up on a subtle strand, narrative often abandons m in pursuit of anor conflict - and Shehar Lakhot, despite it’s moments of black humour and brilliance, is not executed smoothly enough to carry all of its material with impact.

Effective use of flashbacks

Having said that, makers of Shehar Lakhot do deserve credit for bringing a layer of poignance to ir characters with an impressively economical use of flashbacks. During an early sequence where two estranged brors end up in a brawl, we get quick snippets of ir childhood which tells us everything we need to know about m. show continues to make use of flashbacks for many of its or prominent characters as well.

Performances save day

Kubbra Sait remains consistently impressive in her performance, playing a female cop who is exasperated and ferocious in her battle against patriarchal system in equal measures. Chandan Roy Sanyal brings a distinct intensity to his part, playing a marble magnate who manages to hide his anguish underneath his lavish display and exploitation of wealth.

or cast members of show deliver good performances, including Chandan Roy, Manu Rishi Chha and Abhilash Thapliyal. Special mention goes to Shruti Jolly, who perfectly captures innocence and clean-heartedness of a small-town girl who has been compelled by her circumstances to grow up too fast.

Stream it or skip it?

At 8 episodes lasting 55 minutes each, and with a narrative that’s crafted with too many thres and a slow-burn pace, Shehar Lakhot is not everyone’s cup of tea. However, if stories about hinterland are your thing, you can give it a watch.

Bottomline

Navdeep Singh and Devika Bhagat make a commendable attempt at telling a new story in a worn-out genre and succeed, but only in bits and pieces.

Rating - 2.5/5 stars