With Balaji Telefilms’ Naagin 3 being a huge chartbuster, there are big expectations from Naagin 4 which has been titled Naagin – Bhagya Ka Zehreela Khel, which has just gone on air over the weekend on Colors.
Without much ado, let’s get down to the review bit.
To be honest, I expected better. The basic story and initial execution is quite vanilla – the old Naagin revenge saga yet again. But we must accept it, the original Naagin tune and song are so evergreen that it leaves us with goosebumps whenever it is played.
So moving on to the story, we have an icchadhari naagin Maanyata (Sayantani Ghosh), who makes the cardinal sin of falling in love with a mere mortal, Keshav (Shalin Bhanot). Lo and behold, when the saatva phera is about to be done, mummy and daddy naagin turn up with good CG, to lecture her about losing her powers (err, where have I heard this before?).
Maanyata is then cursed to be a simple human for a quarter of a century. On the other hand, the entire groom’s family is slayed by the evil lady who is the wife of Aakash Parekh (Sanjay Gandhi) who worked in Keshav’s rich household. The ladies of the Parekh household along with the other men (with the exception of Aakash who is the good samaritan) join hands in taking over the property of Keshav by killing him and his family. Vrishali Parekh (Geetanjali Tikekar), Aakash’s wife heads the ruthless bunch of family members who kill lives at the drop of a hat. There is so much of blood-shed with ladies shown cutting the necks of people (alas!!). So much blood-letting and yet no inquiry. Vrishali just claims to her husband that they were waylaid by robbers.
Vrishali smartly times the macabre killings with an inauspicious astrological moment, so powerless Maanyata jumps into the river with her infant daughter, Nayanthara.
Both are rescued by villagers and in classical filmy style, she says, “Don’t cover my baby, let her be strong, for she needs to take revenge.”
Cut to 25 years down the road, Sayantani looks hotter as the mother than her daughter avatar. Both she and the now grown-up Nayanthara (Jasmin Bhasin) will wreak havoc on the Parekh clan by killing all of them.
I just wonder where is a joint family today? Here, all the Parekh clan members and kids are living happily in one bungalow. It’s too big a family with a lot of spoilt brats forming the younger generation of the Parekh family.
Lead guy Dev (Vijayendra Kumeria) and his brother are kept out of India by Vrishali for fear of naagins. Dev is both businessmen and fighter, who saves his brother from gambling sharks. Interestingly, so far, Nia Sharma has got a de-glam sweet servant girl role, Brinda. Her fiancé Rajat (Ankit Bathla) wants some money from the Parekhs as a loan to start his business.
One of the cousins Manas (Kunal Singh) is two-timing his girl Kanika (Priya Tandon) and Brinda finds out, so he threatens her.
Vrishali keeps one last pooja to ward off evil, which will only work if Dev is not around.
Call it a quirk of fate or serial writing, Dev decides to return to India on the same day that the naagins get their powers back, wanting to celebrate his granny’s birthday.
Nayanthara enters as Kanika’s hot friend and all the guys fall head over heels for her. Even the mothers want her as their bahu.
With Dev in town, the reptiles get the upper hand and they spoil the yagna. They even lift Dev’s car. Hydraulics ahoy, what say guys?
This, in a nutshell, is what we saw in episodes 1 and 2.
Must say the VFX bit is really good. Shalin and Sayantani who have teamed up after many years have breathed fire into their roles as the romantic husband and wife. The seductive dance of the two was a good watch. We wonder why an actor like Shalin picked up such a small role!! He deserved better…
Jasmin Bhasin in the Naagin look seems very outdated, an attire that simply does not do justice for the girl’s looks. Her entry sequence in a hot blue short dress wherein all the jaws of the young guys of the Parekh family drop is proof enough.
It would be interesting to see the change in Nia, from a girl next door to a snake. As of now, her role is of the only good girl in the Parekh family.
To be very honest, Vijayendra Kumeria does not have much to do, just smile and look good. All the action here is by the females. We hope to see his role develop.
A huge support cast (Geetanjali’s hubby Sikandar Kharbanda and Aparna Kumar) fills up the canvas, but they will hardly be remembered, except Rakhi Vijan, for her comic quirks.
Colors is on the upswing, with Choti Sarrdaarni and Bigg Boss raking in huge numbers, so if Naagin – Bhagya Ka Zehreela Khel fires, it will give Star Plus a big run for its moolah.
One more thing that does not gel is that if Vrishali and gang were cold-blooded murderers 25 years ago, shouldn’t their dirty tricks continue even now?
Creative director Mukta Dhond is doing a good job of keeping the story pacy.
To all naysayers cribbing about naagins and chudails, just one answer – it rates. Even now this genre is minting money, for example, Yehh Jadu Hai Jinn Ka.
The broad story could have been made more complex rather than just harking back to the tried and tested revenge saga. That would have added more thinking audiences. Don’t we all dig Game of Thrones, which too has its share of dragons.
Having said that, Naagin always had a huge social media connect, so college-going kids who abuse desi content on Twitter still check out the show on the sly.
As long as the franchise rates, why will the network retire it? Money talks, darling!
We rate Naagin – Bhagya Ka Zehreela Khel with 3 stars.