The Last Hour
(The latest series in Hindi on Amazon)
◻The first-ever supernatural crime thriller produced by Amazon India! Impressive publicity there. What’s not impressive is the way a fresh and unique theme has been mauled and crushed by the makers.
◻The story revolves around a shaman (Karma Takapa) in a fictional region in the North East. The claim is that a shaman can enter a trance state during a ritual, and practise divination, healing and communication with the dead. Here this enlightened man with supernatural powers teams up with a senior police officer (Sanjay Kapoor) to solve recent cases of murders and rape. So, there is a queer mix of the spiritual and the earthy. This could’ve been a pathbreaking series but, unfortunately, ends up being heartbreaking for the viewers with taste and understanding.
◻As Sikkim is my most favourite place that I visited multiple times, I know exactly where was the series shot. Phenomenal. Yes, the outdoor sequences are an absolute delight. The story (Amit-Anupama) moves at a snail's pace and remains unrelatable. This 8-episode series is overstretched owing to the lack of narrative insights and repetitive trance visuals. All skeleton, no meat, no juice. The non-stop background score (Gingger Shankar) is another drawback. Good compositions but overused by the series director (Amit Kumar). Stunts are well shot (Jayesh Nair) and edited (Annelotte and Peter). VFX heavily rely on various colour grading. Costumes by Shruti give an authentic flavour to the characters and, thankfully, are not overdone like a fancy dress show.
◻By and large, the performances by actors are a matter of concern. Karma Takapa, the protagonist, has one expression pasted on his face throughout. Though he appears genuine, there’s no variation at all. The antagonist, the devil, the evil called Yamnadu played by Robin Tamang appears fake and sounds unnatural. Sanjay and Raima are passable. Shahana Goswami, another cop, maybe not as brilliant as she has always been but the only one who’s convincing and relatable. Yes, one more actor, Lanuakum Ao as Thapa, looks real. Mandakini who plays Amoo (Mother Shaman) is seen wasting her energy harping on ‘शक्ति शक्ति शक्ति’. Hardly believable. The rest of the cast essentially has one big problem: rattling off the dialogues as if reading script.
◻All said, watching episode 1 and then jumping to the last two of The Last Hour would be enough or else it’s a torture of ‘supernatural’ kind. Please feel free to disagree on any count.
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Review writer : Sanjiva Sahai
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