TANDAV - with the trailer itself so powerful, and a risky - pesky time of no-visit to theaters since long made me wait for this series for days. Grabbing the first opportunity we could, we curled up with enough snacks to last for the season and give us a theater-like feel. The Tandav unfurled itself with the ultimate move that Saif Ali Khan (as Samar Pratap Singh) does for power.
In a nutshell, Tandav is a political drama about how Samar - Son of a sitting Prime Minister of India plays out to become the ruler, starting with his father's murder. Now, there is murder, there is conspiracy attached, thirst for power that everyone plunges at, precisey when the ruler is no more; There is also blackmail, there is unfaithfulness, and there is manipulation that comes with it.
In a parallel story that runs along, is Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub (as Shiva Shekhar) who is a university student fueled with a potent mix of eagerness to do something, and still exploring his possibilities at what life has to offer him.
The paths of Samar and Shiva cross soon when Samar realizes that he wants to be the King maker if he cannot be the king.
Flawless direction by Ali Abbas Zafar to the story line written by himself and Gaurav Solanki is a treat to viewers. Dimple Kapadia as Anuradha Kishore, Kumud Mishra as Gopal Das Munshi have done their jobs wonderfully well. Sunil Grover as Gurpal Chauhan must have a special mention because of the outstanding support cast as a cold persuader.
Now let's come to what this series has to offer the viewers, when observed closely by someone who keeps an occasional tab on current events. A Rightist party, students from University like JNU, in this series who are usually not okay with anything that's right, Student leader Shiva who reminds of Kanhaiyya Kumar from JNU, Barkha Dutt resembling reporter who listens to students and helps them when none other does, Government suppressing farmer's protests, which then yields to it favorably, Police - which acts according to orders from high - up in the political hierarchy, who shoots two innocent youth and frames them on UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act), party IT cell portrayed like hashtag trending factory on social media and may be even more resemblances to someone who keeps a tab on current events regularly.
What the viewer sees through mostly, is the series as an entertainer that is worth watching, and yes, absolutely, the team of Tandav has delivered it in a mish-mash of imagination and amalgamation of current events, only as much required to perk the viewer expectations up to the second series.
Just curious, if the team will also include something about these in their upcoming series- any leftist opposition party that is not-even-mentioned once, and about all darker shaded characters surnamed Singh, Shekar, Chauhan, Munshi, Mishra that could ocasionally be surnames from Muslims and minority exactly like the ones in this series 1 who are killed, lynched, tortured, anyone who misses opportunity or their fair opportunity is snatched away heartlessly, the downtrodden, and like only the name of true workers to uplift the downtrodden.
When someone watches this series because of its great make after twenty, or thirty or forty years, they will always perceive it closely linked to what was happening in 2010's and 2020's. For that matter, every series that is made to look like its shot in some imaginary era when all the downtrodden from the Indian Society were only Dalits and Muslims.
