Search: The Naina Murder Case is an intermittently gripping transplant of the Danish original Forbrydelsen into an Indian milieu, anchored by a terrific central turn from Konkona Sen Sharma as ACP Sanyukta Das and elevated by a quietly effective partnership with Surya Sharma’s Jai Kanwal. Their buddy-cop dynamic, written so that gender and authority are negotiated rather than gamed, is one of the series’ clearest strengths, and Shiv Pandit’s morally ambiguous Tushar adds texture when the script allows him to breathe. Despite having strong direction by Rohan Sippy and Murzy Pagdiwala’s often moody camerawork, the show never quite becomes the immersive, character-first study the original managed.
The writers Radhika Anand and Shreya Karunakaran do a tidy job of translating the whodunit machinery (clues, red herrings, methodical interrogation beats), but the integration of that machinery onto Indian politics and the media ends up feeling just surface-level and too neat. Murky party alliances and political beats feel like they’re plot conveniences rather than corrosive power plays, and the political subtext is sketched rather than excavated.
The series’ central plot is that of a bright college student Naina being found dead after she was raped and her body dumped in an isolated pond. The ensuing investigation unfurls across the college campus, police offices, politicians’ meetings and a the Naina’s family home. A parental-freedom subplot featuring Sanyukta’s young daughter, Mahi, and the working-mother’s struggles to let her grow while keeping her safe, tries to give emotional stakes to Sanyukta’s choices. Sadly that domestic track, including her marriage to Bheesham (Mukul Chadda), never coheres emotionally. The husband-and-wife storyline between Konkona and Mukul remains underpowered and fails to land.
Performance-wise, Konkona, Surya and Shiv are the reasons to watch The Naina Muder Case on JioHotstar. The buddy-cop chemistry between Konkona and Surya Sharma’s characters is handled with subtle gender-politics. He initially challenges her authority and then they earn each other’s respect in a working relationship. It feels like an equitable and grounded writingeffort. Surya Sharma brings a restrained magic to his edgy cop routine, complementing Konkona’s measured intensity, and together they elevate many of the series’ procedural scenes. Shiv Pandit also turns in a solid effort, adding moral ambiguity to scenes that could easily have felt flat.
Several supporting turns notably Kabir Kachroo (Ojas), Anmol Rawat (Aarav) and others in the college cohort feel thin at critical moments and do not always register the impact the plot expects of them. Performances by Iravati Harshe, Chandsi Kataria, Shraddha Das and Sagar Deshmukh are good, but their characters aren’t always in a position to drive home the drama. Technically, the show benefits from selective directorial flourishes, but the editing (by Abhishek Seth) is oddly workmanlike. Scenes linger or snip too soon and the background score (Pranaay) is surprisingly restrained to the point of undercutting tension. A bolder musical temperature would have amplified moments of unease.
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