Aranyak

 

An engrossing amalgam of crime and politics with dollops of myth-making, the eight-episode thriller Aranyak investigates human desires and transgressions, in the garb of a sadistic case of rape and murder, set in a fictional town in Himachal Pradesh. 

Two morally upright officers, who are fighting their own inner demons, seek to find the culprit behind the suspected rape and murder of a teenage girl, who had ostensibly come to spend the holidays in the picturesque town with her mother, who happens to be a foreign national. Aimee (Anna Ador) become a tool in the machinations of a wily politician Manhas (Zakir Hussain), victim of the hot-headed son (Tejasvi Dev) of the minister Jagdamba (Meghna Malik). As Aimee’s mother Julie (Breshna Khan) appears to be economical on the truth as well, the list of suspects keeps getting longer, so much so that supernatural elements also claw their way into the case file.

Raveena takes time to get into the skin of Kasturi Dogra, a local police officer whose methods of investigation are old-school but effective. Kasturi’s bond with her father-in-law Mahadev Dogra (Ashithosh Rana) is also one of the highlights of the series. A retired head constable with a fading memory, Mahadev believes in the myth of man-leopard behind the killings, but also exemplifies the progressive milieu of the hills. Deep inside, the other police, Angad is damaged as well, but Parambrata peels one layer at a time, making Angad immensely likable. His son's story, could be the next episode?  

Watched all eight episodes in one go, as it was so engrossing and why not, made my Ramesh Sippy and Siddharth.