Cast: Sanjay Kapoor (Rajeev), Shweta Tripathi Sharma (Amara), Indraneil Sengupta (Prateek Jindal), Arjun Mathur (Sahil), Shriya Pilgaonkar (Suhani)

Direction: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat

Ratings: 4 stars

If it is a thriller, it got to thrill. No excuses. Lockdown has been breathing heavily on everyone’s neck, an ugly Goblin, singing of bleak and blight.

But what do you do when life gives you lemons, yes, make a nice refreshing entertaining riveting web series. And guess what? The folks at VOOT have hit a jackpot with Gone Game, a narrative so gripping that you end up binge-watching with the delight of the first rains in the monsoon. It leaves you refreshed, thanks to some much-needed ‘well-done’ content in the overall clutter being doled out every day.

Gone Game is entirely shot during the lockdown. Kudos to Bodhi Tree’s Mautik Tolia and Sukesh Motwani for being able to achieve the unachievable. Rather than rue over the misgivings, Gone Game looks like a product which is made with a lot of intelligence, passion and with an intent to do justice to the story.

The idea and its execution remind us of Satyajit Ray’s technique of filmmaking where he attempted (with much success, like Gone Game) to weave magic on screen subtly maneuvering through the challenges in the process. Like Ray, Gone Game too hits the bull’s eye.

Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s, the captain of the ship, ample understanding of how sound and image work together to create moments to conjure a prickly ambience of vagueness, fright and thrill, is laudable, indeed.

With Covid 19 as the plot pivot, Nikhil weaves a world around the Gujral family, intense, dramatic and captivating.

The head of the family, Rajeev (Sanjay Kapoor) is based in Delhi. His daughter Amara (Shweta Tripathi Sharma) is in a relationship with her boyfriend Prateik Jindal (Indraneil Sengupta). While Amara is stuck at Bengaluru, Karnataka, Prateik finds himself all alone and in solitude in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Rajeev’s son Sahil (Arjun Mathur), who lives with his wife Suhani (Shriya Pilgaonkar), experiences Covid-19 symptoms and gets himself tested, and later dies. However, is he really dead? What really happened to him? Is there more to what meets the eye?

We won’t spoil the party. You watch to experience the riddles sending out vines of insinuation that end up coagulating your senses with emotions of extreme excitement, inoculating you with the ‘what next’ syndrome.

The colour scheme is muted, camera movements telegraph anxiety, the editing keeps you at tenterhooks. The climax will hit you like lightning, too surprising and powerful.

The experienced actors knit the screenplay with exquisite finesse, and veteran Sanjay Kapoor is indeed a revelation. We should see him more on screen.

Go for Gone Game, no pretensions, only precision.