It's been a fantastic week for content, with the back-to-back premieres of Burn The House Down, the second season of The Summer I Turned Pretty, and Netflix's Kohrra. This proves that quality still matters worldwide. In that regard, we applaud Barun Sobti for being the man he is and for the choices he continues to make. When he starred in a Hindi TV series a decade ago, both he and the show became a global phenomenon whose relevance has endured to this day.
Sobti hasn't disappointed us with his choices, whether it's the lighthearted Tu Hi Mera Sunday, a thriller like Asur, or finally, a complex story like Kohrra. We bet Barun Sobti never realized he'd become a hook. We'll watch anything with his face on it, and it's a bonus when the content is good. This also departs from the types of roles he usually plays, as Garundi is a bit more impulsive and less inclined to speak English, allowing him to pronounce his words clearly instead of muffled. This small nuance should be a point of compromise amidst all the fandom we'll always shower him with. But putting that aside, let's talk about Kohrra, from Filmz, known for shows like Bulbull, Pari, NH 10, and Paatal Lok.
Creators: Sudip Sharma, Gunjit Chopra, Diggi Sisodia
Stars: Barun Sobti, Suvinder Vicky, Manish Chaudhari
Each of these has been critically acclaimed to varying degrees, with the latter being their most successful project. Perhaps that's why the goal of their next project in a long time was to continue the narrative of Paatal Lok. Kohrra is brilliant and captivating in its own way, and that's how it should be if it's meant to be, which means Kohrra should be on your watchlist. But the similarities are there, and the creator of both series, Sudip Sharma, might have something to do with it.
The ills of patriarchy and toxic masculinity shape the narrative, where women simply try to break free from these constraints and build a life on the margins. Then there's the crime, and whether it's Paatal Lok or Kohrra, nothing is as it seems, and the murder has nuances based on the choices the victim made in the past. Finally, there's a cop fighting the system to get to the bottom of things, indistinguishable from the people he's investigating.
We're not worried about the similarities, as the time that has passed since Paatal Lok premiered and Kohrra's fresh perspective make the plot compelling. But with Paatal Lok's second season coming soon, there's a real fear of repetition. However, despite all the similarities, the one difference we're glad to see is that the women weren't brutalized on screen as they are in most Clean Slate content. It was a huge relief not to see that. We know we've talked a lot about Barun Sobti and how well he portrayed Garundi. But Suvinderpal Vicky was an equally outstanding star, with his stoic restraint and the controlled anger emanating from his portrayal of a patriarch—something no one wanted. As often happens when you discover a new actor you like, we revisited his work and understood once again why we need to see more regional cinema.
In an interview with Sudip Sharma, he mentioned that his stories often explore the politics of different kinds of love. We agree with him. However, we must point out that he seems to view queer love from a tragic perspective. Judging by what we saw in Paatal Lok and Kohrra, the politics of queer love always seem to end in bloodshed. We don't dispute that our society is homophobic, but the LGBTQIA+ community is not without its joys, despite the difficulties it faces. Sudip Sharma isn't the ideal man to successfully portray that facet of his stories.
Moving on to other topics, if you don't speak Hindi, we recommend experimenting with the different audio tracks for the series. It's simply hilarious. As for the narrative, it demands constant vigilance. The sequence of events leading up to the crime lasted less than two hours, but the investigation involved piecing together numerous fragments and tracking down several people. Undoubtedly, that's the nature of an investigative thriller, but it's also very easy to lose track of what's happening at times.
This brings us to the need for time to grasp the title itself, Kohrra, which means fog. We desperately hoped it wasn't one of those unnecessarily metaphorical titles we often encounter, and we were pleased to find it wasn't. It's a reference to the social structure that often clouds our judgment and prevents us from pursuing our true happiness, which lies beyond the fog. The narrative justifies the title, and that's one of the first signs of a well-written series.
The main takeaway is that it's worth watching. Regardless of comparisons, it's something new in its own right and deserves to be seen by audiences.
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