Zakhmi Review

The show opens with a battered, bruised, barely-alive Saira (Tia Bajpai), barreling her way out of a locked shipping container on the Hong Kong docks. The scene sets the tone for the murder, suspense and revenge drama to follow. Saira is a happy-go-lucky orphan, working in a bank in Mumbai. She is wooed by a real-life Prince Charming; in her case, Rohan Mallik (Ruslaan Mumtaz), and they soon get married. A cataclysm disaster befalls her seemingly blissful world, when Rohan is killed in an accident. On closer inspection of the accident pictures, Saira realizes that things are not what they seem. All clues point to the fact that what was made to look like an accident was actually a murder. Things start going downward from there. To stop Saira from snooping around, a menacing goon with kohl-lined eyes, MK (Peeyush Suhaney), tries to threaten her into silence. When she resists, she is kidnapped, gang-raped, beaten up and left to die inside a closed car that is locked up in a container bound for Hong Kong. But our heroine survives and vows to revenge the murder of her husband and the atrocities perpetrated on her. Her quest takes her from a casino in Macau to a palatial house in Mumbai, and even into an arms-dealer’s den, in the outskirts of Mumbai.

Arbaaz Ali Moghul has done a pretty neat job of directing the series, while credit for the story goes to Vikram Bhatt himself. There are quite a few needless songs in the show, which tend to distract the viewer, rather than adding value to the proceedings. They were best avoided, in our opinion. But, the deed, as they say, is done, and nothing can be done about it. Tia Bajpai has done a commendable job as Saira. She adds credence to her character of a wronged woman, out to get revenge. She deserves credit for putting in a measured performance, in a role that could very well have been reduced to an over-the-top, screechy, shrew-like caricature. Vipul Gupta puts in a restrained performance as Mohit, though he could have infused a bit more vitality and verve into his role. Snigdha Akolkar was just about average as Amrita. Ruslaan Mumtaz just doesn’t cut it in a negative role. The sooner he realises that he’s tailor-made to play cho-chweet, chocolate-boy characters, the better for him.

All-in-all, the series is quite a decent watch. Despite being riddled with loopholes, the plot manages to grab your attention and keep it.