Project: Candy (Voot Select)
Lead Cast: Ronit Roy (Jayant Parekh), Richa Chadha (DSP Ratna Sankhwar)
Direction: Ashish R Shukla
Ratings: 3 stars
Candies bring happy memories. However, candies are used to control a drug racket in Voot Select’s Candy. Director Ashish R Shukla weaves an interesting story intertwined with a baleful murder of a young school boy coupled with a supernatural element. Candy is an engaging and binge-worthy psychological thriller that can be termed ‘unmissable’.
The story is set in the village of Rudrakund which is located in the picturesque hills of Uttarakhand. A young school student named Mehul gets murdered brutally which leads to a series of events and mysteries unfolding one after the other. It is after this incident that two of the driving forces of this project, Jayant Parekh (Ronit Roy) and DSP Ratna Sankhwar (Richa Chadha) come into the picture. While Jayant is a protective school teacher and mentor who wants to ensure the safety of all his students and deliver justice to Mehul, DSP Ratna Sankhwar is a stern and uncompromising yet ‘corrupt’ cop who’s entrusted with the responsibility of heading the police department in the village. While. initially, it looks like a classic tale of murder done for the sake of possible revenge and vengeance, multiple theories and angles involving a drug racket, and a rural legend of ‘Masaan’, a demon hunting to kill villagers eventually crop up that leads to many twists and turns. So what exactly is the reason behind this horrific and brutal murder? Is it just another murder or is there a lot more than what meets the eye? No spoilers allowed.
What We Liked: Ronit Roy as Jayant Parekh and Richa Chadha and DSP Ratna Sankhwar are convincing. Both of them have their tasks cut out to reach their eventual destination and this results in an engaging and binge-worthy 8-episode murder mystery series. There’s never a dull moment when these two are around and once you start watching, you simply can’t skip a moment. The crisp writing and direction along with a decent screenplay help to keep the suspense and fear factor alive, an element always mandatory for thrillers to work.
What Could Have Been Better: Perhaps, the only thing that could have been better was the pace at which the narrative flows. The very essence of a crime thriller means the audience should expect multiple twists and turns and hence it’s important to be brisk in that approach. Also, despite having multiple layers attached to the project like drugs, murder, and everything that’s relevant in today’s society, there wasn’t anything ‘new’ that we can possibly think of.
If you are someone who enjoys thrillers, this is certainly the one for you. Give it a watch for performances of Ronit and Richa along with a fantastic supporting cast that overall helps the team achieve their desired goal.
Ratings: 3/5 stars