MAI REVIEW

Introduction

The series 'Mai' which has released only one season so far is a thriller and an enjoyable watch for the audience, considering the expressive acting of Sakshi Tanwar who is a treat to watch onscreen. A middle-class mother named Sheel Chaudhary (Sakshi Tanwar) sees her daughter Supriya (Wamiqa Gabbi) get struck by a vehicle. She quickly sees that the incident isn't just a hit-and-run case but rather that something evil is going on, which fuels her drive to get the truth.

Review

The 2017 Bollywood thriller "Mom," featuring the late Sridevi, & "Maatr," Raveena Tandon's return picture, both have a crime-and-revengeance subject similar to "Mai." They are similar in many ways, especially regarding the central idea?a simple, everyday mother seeking retribution for her daughter. Sheel's life in this television series is turned upside down when she sees her daughter Supriya die tragically. Although it appears to be an accident initially, Sheel immediately senses that something is off and that Supriya's death could have resulted from a planned murder. She then sets off on a quest to learn the truth.

A medical fraud and money laundering case is being investigated by Farooque Siddiqui (Ankur Ratan), a Special Police Force Officer (SPF), under the supervision of Jawahar (Prashant Narayanan) and Neelam (Raima Sen), who runs the company with Raghu (Saurabh Dubey), Keshav, Prashant (Anant Vidhaat), and Shankar (Vaibhav Raj Gupta). The show's characters are directly or indirectly connected to the mother-daughter team in question, whether it is Farooque playing Supriya's lover or Sheel playing Jawahar's mother at the nursing home.

The filmmakers, first-timer Atul Mongia and Anshai Lal, who made his directorial debut with the 2017 film "Phillauri," can get the actors to provide excellent performances. Sheel, who appears to be both vulnerable and emotional simultaneously, and Supriya, her mute daughter, who can't communicate, perform well on film. The directors' close-up views of the main character increase the suspense. The six portions of this project were co-written by Mongia, the project's originator and producer, Tamal Sen, and Amita Vyas. In this criminal thriller, they vividly depict the mother-daughter pair's suffering, human connections and sacrifices, political swindles, money laundering, and much more.

This fictional drama utilizes Lucknow as a backdrop to show the right and wrong behavior in the city that impacts the lives of regular people, similar to other criminal sagas streaming in the OTT arena. After Sheel's enormous emotional outburst in the first few episodes, the tale moves in the correct direction. However, this dramatic shift toward the right direction quickly changes. Although it occasionally seems too extended to hold the audience's interest across the episodes, the writing does an excellent job of linking all aspects. Too many people and side stories don't get enough attention to be included. For instance, Seema Pahwa's (Kalpana's) account of her criminal past before she eventually fell prey to an abusive marriage is quite hazy. Due to the casual way Kalpana told her account during her talk with Sheel, the audience could not relate to the story. Furthermore, there are several scenarios in which Sheel appears to be able to do anything, including climbing walls and fooling the masterminds.

Despite everything, "Mai" is consumed with maintaining Sakshi's center of attention, which slows the show's pace and, in some situations, lessens its effect. There is enough room, though, to concentrate on a wide variety of human interactions, such as Sheel's evolving connections to her partner Yash and her extended family, which also involves Bhaisahab, Bhabhi, and their child, or her attachment to Kalpana (Seema Pahwa), who has been by her side throughout. Each episode?almost an hour long?could be considered shortened if Manas Mittal's editing had been more tolerant. Above all, it provides a tonne of pointers for the upcoming season.

Sakshi's character of Sheel, a nurse-turned-caregiver at the nursing home, embarks on a quest to settle accounts with some hazardous characters. Although she is incredibly convincing, Tanwar will have to do all the work. Wamiqa Gabbi portrays a little silent girl who is the series' victim and is very effective. Wamiqa Gabbi was most recently featured in the Hindi film "83" as Madan Lal's wife. As Sheel's spouse, Yash, Vivek Mushran lacks body mass comparable to the rest of the cast, including his extended family.

Each one of the characters is believable and contributes significantly to the plot. The SPF officer, in contrast to Salman's Chulbul Pandey or any other masculine cop, is a strict officer who is knowledgeable about his duties. As a result, Farooque, played by Ankur Ratan, appears to be an outsider in numerous action sequences. Prashant effortlessly assumes the role of Jawahar/Mohandas and once again gives a performance that makes us hate his character. Even though Raima plays Neelam, an intelligent and beautiful character, she always has the same expressionless expression. The actors who played Prashant and Shankar, Anant Vidhaat and Vaibhav Raj Gupta (Annu Bhaiya from Gullak), respectively, did a terrific job in capturing the distorted natures of their characters.

Conclusion

Sakshi Tanwar plays a devastated mother who quickly changes from meek to cruel after the unfortunate occurrence. Her grief at not knowing who killed her daughter and why is apparent, and she completely commands the screen. A program with so many characters fundamentally a whodunit but with various twisted agendas is challenging to keep track of. Overall though, 'Mai' is a grim and unrelenting criminal thriller that manages to be captivating while not always enjoyable to watch. Even if the pace of the drama slows down in between scenes, the viewer is kept on edge by ongoing action.

Links:

1. Link 1
2. Link 2