Adding an extra number to the title has added some extra zing to the segmented proceedings in Applause Entertainment’s 36 Days, the official indigenous interpretation of the BBC series 36 Days.The polished adroitly-edited adaptation directed by Vishal Furia is surprisingly gritty and involving, thanks in no small measure to the excellent casting.
Set in a high-end housing complex in Goa, the eye-catching series feels right. Unlike other recent murder mysteries which strain at the seams to hold our flagging attention, 36 Days moves smoothly through its eight episodes at its own volition, never displaying signs of any anxiety about losing the plot, and the audience.
Though this one is a whodunit, co-writers Anahata Menon and Seneca Mendosa have focussed on characterization rather than red herrings while manoeuvring the plot to its credible denouement . The evenly paced narration ensures there are no loose ends in the plot; at least none as glaring as the ones we have seen in some recent serial-killer serials.
The characters, though not markedly deep, possess a certain sang-froid. No one is a martyr, but each tries to be smarter than the others. There is a wife Lalita(Amruta Khanvilkar) who wants the good life at any cost. Sharib Hashmi as her conscientious husband saddled with a bikao-half hellbent on being outrun by her materialism, reminded me faintly of Amitabh Bachchan in Do Anjaane.
My favourite characters in this shock-a-block highrise crime thriller are a mousy cake-baking aunty Binny and Tara, a spunky transgender , played by Shernaaz Patel and Sushant Divgikar. Both the characters could easily have fallen into a victim freefall . For not doing so, the credit must go to the actors. Patel and Divgikar sink their teeth into their parts with a wolfish pleasure.
Not every character works equally well. Neha Sharma as the apartment block’s resident femme fatale gets to do nothing more than wheel a suitcase across the compound her hips in an exaggerated swing. Kripya dhyaan dijiye, she plays an airhostess. Also, some of the characters playing psychologically disturbed character are shown doing too much of the eye-rolling hand-trembling routine.
A bit more of restrain at the edges would have taken this zestful adaptation even further. This is not to say that what we get is not enough. 36 Days is one of the more attention-catching serials this year. If you have missed it then go for it right away.
