Afsos review: Gulshan Devaiah makes 'a man indecisive about dying' endearingly funny in a fascinating show

Language: Hindi with a bit of EnglishAnubhuti Kashyap has a refreshingly different voice. The directorial voice is different not only from her filmmaker-brothers Anurag Kashyap (whom she assisted on Dev.D and Gangs of Wasseypur) and Abhinav Kashyap (Dabangg), but also from most of the filmmakers out there.Her unique voice shapes the tone of her maiden web show, Amazon Prime Video India's Afsos, produced by Only Much Louder (OML). A dark comedy, the eight-part series lands somewhere on the long stretch between the staple genres of her two brothers. While it has Anurag's restraint, it is not entirely devoid of Abhinav's mainstream abandon. It does demand suspension of disbelief, to a certain extent, from the audience but it never compromises on its silences. However, to say Anubhuti's directorial voice is a function of both her brothers' influences would amount to robbing her of any merit.[caption id="attachment_7913941" align="alignnone" width="825"] Gulshan Devaiah in a still from Afsos[/caption]As the trailer suggests, the show revolves around an aspiring writer Nakul (Gulshan Devaiah), who is battling (or is he?) suicidal tendencies. After countless suicide attempts get thwarted, he hires a contractual killer Upadhyay (Hiba Shah) to execute him with accurate results. However, that leads him to a near-death experience, post which he changes his mind. But having been assigned a task, Upadhyay is hell bent to put an end to his life, while he tries his best to protect it.In this cat-and-mouse chase, the stakes become much higher when Nakul's therapist Shloka (Anjali Patil), a sage on a mission from Uttarakhand, a police officer chasing the sage, a Russian tourist, and a UK-based scientist researching on the 'elixir of immortality' (Jamie Alter), among others, are thrown into the mix.The narrative could have conveniently become chaotic given the presence of so many characters but Anubhuti, along with creators Dibya Chatterjee and comedian Anirban Dasgupta, and fellow writer Sourav Ghosh, manages to hold it together coherently. The myriad range of people in the show are not reduced to satellite characters but have full-rounded arcs. A major part of the credit must also go to the source material, Bengali novel Golper Goru Chande.The concept deals with heavy subjects like death and immortality but the treatment is quite lighthearted. While the tone never becomes philosophical, it treats the subjects with the right amount of gravitas. The promising elevator pitch (a man realises he does not want to die after hiring a determined contractual killer to kill him) is expanded into a consistent eight-part series. While the writing takes the liberty of a conventional thriller format (cliffhangers, unwarranted twists, and conveniently forced situations), Anubhuti ensures the black comedy feels like a breath of fresh air, with an assured directorial debut (she has also directed a short film Moi Marjaani in 2013).Unlike other shows produced by OML, the faces one comes across in Afsos are not its regular clientele though there are fleeting yet scene-stealing cameos by comedians Biswa Kalyan Rath and Anirban.

Out of the entire cast, Gulshan Deviah is the one who has found a creative soulmate in Anubhuti. He cracks the tone of the show, and emotes in complete harmony. He uses the various weapons of choice in his arsenal, such as body language, facial expressions, speaking style, and even a bodily rhythm to give us a protagonist we can sympathise with, root for, and yet who is completely vulnerable.

He plays Nakul as a borderline farce, risking the chances of turning it into a caricature (say, Akshay Kumar's panauti character in Housefull) but in the hands of an intelligent actor, the role never becomes too ripe.Equally impressive, though with a completely different approach, is Anjali Patil. She plays a therapist to perfection. No, she does not talk softly during sessions or press smiley balls. Her mantra, as she explains to her students, is: "1: Empathy/ "I understand"; 2: Correlation/ "I also..."; 3: Doubt/"But why would you not?" Throughout the show, she acts as a living, breathing reality check, rooted in logic. In the midst of a sea of eccentric characters, she stands out as a seemingly normal person who grounds the show.It is interesting that a woman is cast as a formidable serial killer, as opposed to the perception perpetuated by Hindi cinema for decades. Hiba Shah gets an author-backed part and hits all the right notes. However, in comparison to the other two lead characters, her performance never soars. She is a closeted painter and an open serial killer. But she does not like mixing the two. She does not consider assassinating an art. She kills because she "must." It is an interesting predicament for any actor to sink their teeth into. But her approach remains mostly theatrical, and never ruminative.There are a host of other supporting characters that contribute to the progression of the narrative effectively, thanks to casting director Parag Mehta. He delivers a masterstroke by roping in Ratnabali Bhattacherjee, who comes as close as Gulshan to crack the tone of the show. She plays the mediator between Rakul and Upadhyay, who runs a business of "helping people die." She gets the farcical undertones bang on, and manages to make her character one of the most memorable side roles in recent memory.[caption id="attachment_7913981" align="alignnone" width="825"] Gulshan Devaiah in a still from Afsos[/caption]Neel Adhikari's background score is as much a character in the show as any other in flesh and blood. He switches efficiently from the romantic Little Things franchise (creator Dhruv Sehgal also has an extended cameo here), immersed in reality, to a show like Afsos, that is as much a social satire as it is a fun suspense thriller. He chooses a fairly appropriate song for every situation and character, which gives the impression that he is also subservient to the tone of the show.Krish Makhija's cinematography and Prerna Saigal's editing are not inventive in isolation but manage to offer the right perspective, positioning, and pace to the characters and the central narrative. Mandar Nagaonkar's production design and Bhavana Tushar Kerkar's art direction also complement the world of Afsos well. The action, though limited, looks clunky in some sequences, particularly the hand combat scenes involving the sage, Nakul, and Upadhyay. The special effects, again limited, could have been used with better sophistication.The technical nitty gritties aside, Afsos is a show that has a deeply philosophical undertone. The most alluring aspect of the show is it does all that under the garb of a conventional chase thriller. Given the ingenious tone and treatment, it may take some time to warm up to the world of Afsos. But the conviction of its director and lead actor will make it fairly easy to surrender yourself to what it offers.Rating: ***1/2All images from YouTube.