Mithya trailer: Huma Qureshi, Avantika Dassani wage vicious war of attrition

An act of anger results in a destructive spiral of vengeance, chaos and lies in Rohan Sippy's Zee5 series Mithya. Adapted from the ITV series Cheat, it revolves around a teacher and her student who hold a grudge against each other.

In the show, Huma Qureshi plays a Hindi literature professor, Juhi, while Avantika Dassani plays her student, Rhea Rajguru. After Juhi suspends Rhea for plagiarizing her paper, they embark upon a vicious game of tit for tat with the student revealing the teacher's secrets. Juhi, meanwhile, wreaks havoc on the student's personal life. The game, however, goes too far when a murder occurs. The series also features Parambrata Chatterjee.

The trailer is dark and cut sharply to keep you guessing about the innocence, or guilt, of the characters. Qureshi looks the part but Dassani, who makes her debut as an actress in the series, seems to be saddled with the lead part. The trouble is that the trailer feels too scattershot to form an opinion on the nature and treatment of the story. While the original series was built on flawed individuals, here it appears that the events spring from a giant overreaction to a trivial situation.

Produced by Applause Entertainment, Mithya will be streamed on Zee5 from 18 February.