Rating – *** (3/5)
The latest to be bitten by the OTT bug is an actor, who many presumed would have entered this space much earlier – Riteish Deshmukh. However, I wonder if the actor would have ideally wanted the situation he is in right now, where his OTT film, Kakuda on Zee5 and his OTT web series debut in the form of Pill on JioCinema are both clashing against each other. We are here to talk about Pill – an eight-episode medical thriller that sees Deshmukh being a righteous simpleton going up against a mega pharmaceutical company for the latter’s negligence towards human lives by introducing and circulating a diabetes drug that was never approved and is gradually causing the loss of lives. It obviously isn’t an easy road for Deshmukh’s Dr. Prakash or his two-person team but the insurmountable odds are what make up for an uphill battle against a devious Pawan Malhotra aka Brahma Gill, the owner of Forever Cure Pharma.
The Tropes & The Good Things
The tropes used aren’t novel here. You anticipate the trajectory Dr Prakash, Gursimrat – a medical inspector (Anshul Chauhan), and Noor – a journalist (Akshat Chauhan) are going to be on as they become whistleblowers against a humongous pharmaceutical company, who just cares about their profits and money at the cost of human lives. However, the lack of novelty is made up for with strategic screenplay developments that keep you gripped, just when you think this might be the end.
In one of the scenes, Malhotra’s Brahma Gill is spelling out what the new diabetes drug meglizide means to them, almost too loudly but when he asks the entire boardroom collectively – the board members almost like school students answer the question that feels it is being rubbed on just like it is on school students, who sometimes just spell out answers without knowing what it means. That is indicative of the kind of a system, the company and the Gill clan operate in trying to be the biggest pharma company in the country.
There are a few applaudable subtle moments like the above which represent a David vs Goliath situation, and one where David is literally the tiniest peasant you can think of. And to the credit of the show, it engages you with some popcorn viewing experience and at times, is genuinely thrilling with the ups and downs never trying to take itself too seriously – perhaps that is also what works against the show but nevertheless.
The Flaws & The Performances
Several moments leave you perplexed on the naivete of the characters, and a few that don’t even have redemption. A token righteous daughter of a corrupt politician is never seen crossing paths with the whistleblower gang in their pursuit of goodness – and the amount of times you see her and a few other characters being conveniently fooled is appalling. To imagine that Deshmukh’s Dr. Prakash would keep going back to his corrupt seniors in the first few episodes despite getting obvious hints that they are, well, corrupt! is infuriating – and not because that is just how the character is but because the writers chose to write him like that.
I almost had enough of Pawan Malhotra shouting at the top of his lungs as a Sikh in the iconic film, Jab We Met even though he literally just has two to three scenes – it seems that character of his has just aged to being in this show, only this time he is screaming mostly in English. This choice of him shouting so repeatedly offers nothing to the plot and doesn’t make him more menacing because that is etched out early on. Sad to think that an actor of his prowess is being reduced to this in Pill – just imagine what brilliance he portrayed in Tabbar. The rest of the supporting cast do well where the likes of Nikhil Khurrana, Anshul Chauhan and Akshat Chauhan are standouts.
But the ‘hero’ of the story and this series is Riteish Deshmukh. Despite a career spanning two decades, there are still a few out there who don’t quite see Deshmukh beyond his comic roles but with Pill, he once again serves as a reminder that he is a capable and versatile actor. Mostly subdued and gentle with his portrayal of Dr. Prakash, Deshmukh adds value and makes him the perfect underdog you root for. The choice of him having a Ghaziabadi accent doesn’t add much to the gravitas and you can see him losing that accent in a few instances but overall, Deshmukh holds the anchor to this medical thriller enough to keep you invested.
The Verdict
Pill isn’t a pathbreaking medical drama and it probably wasn’t set out to be. But coming from a fine director like Rajkumar Gupta, (Aamir, No One Killed Jessica) who serves as the showrunner, you witness those momentary flashes of fine filmmaking that you associate the man with. Writers Parveez Sheikh and Jaideep Yadav, the latter also a director of an episode understand their assignment well enough to make Pill an intriguing and dramatic medical thriller, that despite relying on tropes offers an immersive viewing experience.