Reviews

I started watching this flick with zero expectations and I was hooked to the screen right from the first frame. No where in the 2 hour duration did I feel bored. Ofcourse there were a couple of things which didn't work for me, but overall this is one of the best thrillers in Kannada film industry.

Pros:

1. Music is Top notch and keeps you engaged throughout.

2. The script is tight.

3. Kudos to the director for pulling this off. He has made it look so easy.

Cons:

1. There is one major logic loophole in this movie which could have been avoided. 4 cops work together in an election duty. 6 years down the lane, none of them remember each other even when all 4 of them meet and try hard to remember if there is a common link between them.

This point was a bit illogical to me.

2. The actors in supporting roles (Seetharam's wife & lady constable) could have acted better.

3. There is just one scene in the entire screenplay which I felt was not necessary. There is this additional screen time given to Seetharam's wife just a scene before her death. The bgm when cop leaves the house and their romance gives away that she'll die in the next scene. This has been happening before a character's death since ages in all the film industries. Should have been avoided.

But overall I rate this movie above most of the Kannada thrillers. If such movie had come from Mollywood, we would have hailed the entire industry and it would have been so popular. It's time we appreciate and do the same for such good movies from Sandalwood.

This is such a mediocre series by Netflix that makes me wonder about it's popularity🤦🏽

Iam not familiar with Arsene lupin's books, but there is one scene where a book titled Arsene lupin vs Sherlock Holmes is displayed. The main difference between these 2 shows is that Sherlock is the smartest one in the room and to make Lupin the smartest one, makers have reduced the IQ of everyone around him to room temperature starting with the writers.

The script is below par and has irritating loopholes. I'll list out a few for you here:

1. Cops are so dumb in this show that even after Paul Sernene (one of the characters of Assane Diop) is personally present for the bidding of necklace and a lot of photos were taken, (coz you know, he was staying under the radar by bidding 60M dollars straight from 43M dollars). The cops still have to get the sketching artist and draw his face.

2. Even after this fiasco, cops take until 2nd season to get his name. Smartest bunch were put on this case for sure.

3. This guy is 6'4 and black and his photo is all over the TV, yet he roams all around the Paris like it's no big deal. I would have really appreciated if he used a lot of disguises all the time like the one he used when he visited the TV studio.

4. A journalist can find him in a day but the entire police department can't.

5. He literally got the confession from Pellegrini at knife point and by kidnapping commissioner Dumont, which makes both of these confessions not admissible by court of law. How can that be the end?

6. A criminal accused of robbery from Louvre and murder, walks up to the stage and accuses someone whom the world believes to be a philanthropist. And we are to believe the protagonist got his revenge when it's his word against the billionaire's. It's not even portrayed that Assane had the people's trust. This is how intelligent the season finale is.

7. Cops again: In one scene, they are so sincere that they decide to arrest their boss for fraud. Cut to next scene, and they choose to let go of a man who is accused of robbery because one of the cop who is a fan of Arsene lupin says so :d

Once you realise the scriptwriting is lousy and everyone around him are dumb, you can guess his each and every move. Nothing will surprise you.

If not for the final 2-3 episodes, I would have rated this series even low. The whole plot revolves around one major twist which is revealed around episode 6-7 which leaves the climax pale. It's like you know what's gonna happen, even if you stop the series there and take a guess on what's gonna happen next, you won't miss anything. Because that's exactly what's gonna happen.

The first half of the series is so boring and Abhishek carries this expressionless face all the time. If not for Amit Sadh and his screen presence, I wouldn't have continued watching. But Abhishek has done a good job towards the end of the season, but you would have lost patience by then.

It is so important for the audience to empathise with Abhishek and Nithya, but you never feel like you are with them throughout the series.

There are a lot of points which are touched upon but not explored which raise a lot of questions: 1. Avinash and Abha were in the police station to report that the kidnapper is asking them to kill people, but they don't report and decide to kill innocents instead. Why? Because Siya(kid) was eating tomatoes in the video, but she always refused here. Yes, you read that right. She ate tomatoes, let's kill people.

2. Was Avinash trying to frame J all this time? Because one of the doctor confirms that he could be faking his footsteps and avinash himself gives some clues to the police.

3. That air shaft coming from the bathroom in a theatre backstage till the front of the road. Not convincing at all.

4. Who attacked Kabir in jail?

5. What was the shoe covered in blood that Avinash received?

6. What's with the love track of prakash kamble? Just to fill in screen time?

7. The killer said that he had 1.5 bottles of insulin left for Siya before which they have to commit the first murder, which came down to 11 days. But these guys apply the same logic to all the murders even though the killer didn't mention about the quantity of insulin left in any other videos.

8. Why would someone take a psychiatrist to a crime scene for help? What can he do that the police already can't?

9. Why wouldn't Abha know that Avinash becomes J and goes to meet Siya every night?

10. Why did it take over 9months for Gayathri to realise that she can revolt against J? And when she is digging the tunnel in Shawshank redemption style, where did she throw all the mud and bricks??

I can go on and on. Overall it's a mediocre series with logic loopholes which was good on paper perhaps.

***********************Spoilers_Ahead*********************

It starts of great. Infact the interval twist is so good that we will be wanting more. But 2nd half is sheer disappointment. It almost feels like the director/writer were changed after the 1st half. And the Background score is top notch throughout.

Too many logic loopholes:

1. At one point you are shown that the killer used to dump the bodies of the Burma colony kids to be found by police. Funeral of couple of kids is shown too. The cop clearly mentions that it was 4kids who were kidnapped and murdered in Burma colony. They found their bodies too according to his statement. Yet 4-5 bodies were recovered from reservoir. Why? How? The cop also mentiones that the modus operandi of the killer is same as the present killings, but in the flashback it is shown that he kills couple of kids by drowning them. No explanation there too.

2. Navya, 2nd daughter of the Ritika(Investigating officer) is shown roaming around with the killer in school uniform. Infact she will be the one, who brings the body to Rueben. If this was the case, then why wasn't her dna found on the bodies?

3. Why did the killer agree to give his dna for the analysis when he wasn't aware that his dna pattern would have changed due to bone marrow? He shows no hesitation when giving his blood samples. This detail is revealed by Sam later, so the killer wouldn't have known this information.

4. A phychopath who kills his father and collects animal heads as a kid, grows up to be a psychologist. His inner demon comes out again when he figures out that he has blood cancer and won't live long enough. I felt somehow this was not so convincing!

5. Since the psychopath kills his dad in his childhood, there was no one to take care or guide him. He is shown to have studied and become a psychologist. What made him normal? This part is not touched upon.

6. Why did the bus driver Ubaid go to Sam's (forensic expert) house and kidnap him? Not just that he narrates why he is killing all the kids too. Just like that. This leads to Ubaid being killed and Sam being framed for the child's abduction. But the killer's motive was never to frame Sam. If his motive was to frame ritika's daughter for those murders as a revenge, why not just do it instead of kidnapping the hero and narrating everything to him?

7. The climax was too mediocre when the killer decides to narrate and admit that he is behind all the killings. Typical movie scenario again.

Overall, it's a very mediocre movie with lot of logic loopholes. I have only listed out the loopholes, but there were some brilliant scenes as well. Interval twist, rare phenomenon of a person having 2 dna's in his body were all brilliant. But let down by these other loopholes.