Anuradha review: Badly written, overlong crime drama

It is vital for mystery crime dramas to keep the viewer interested in the tale, if not completely at the edge of their seat. This doesn’t happen in Planet Marathi’s latest web-series Anuradha, which has been directed by Sanjay Jadhav. 

The story is set in Mumbai and revolves around the simple and innocent Anuradha (Tejaswini Pandit), the daughter of a senior politician, Ramakant (Vidyadhar Joshi). She comes across the lawyer Shantanu (Sachit Patil) after the law firm he works with takes up a case involving her father, which he wins. 

Their friendship slowly transforms into love much to the frustration of the daughter of the founder of the law firm Nisha (Sonali Khare) as she has fallen in love with Shantanu after closely working with him.

Meanwhile, we see Anuradha in a different avatar killing her boss, a gym trainer and a club owner. She is accused of serial murder after video evidence is found against her. However, she pleads innocent and says that she has nothing to do with these killings. Shantanu fights her case as he is sure that the killer is a lookalike of his lover and is on the loose. But is Anuradha really innocent? 

The basic issue with Anuradha is the same as the platform’s earlier show Jobless. The viewer is shown most of the storyline in the first episode itself, so the narrative doesn’t have much to take the viewer by surprise in terms of story development in the later episodes. 

For example, the writers have included slow-paced scenes of the protagonist seducing all three victims one after the other when we already know the outcome!

To fill up space and stretch the show, there is the forced inclusion of an unusual love sub-plot between a female cop and her immediate junior. In fact, in one of the episodes, it feels as if this is the main plot of the show when it has nothing to do with it. If this wasn’t enough, they have also included the sad relationship saga of the judge who is presiding over the case when that too has no relevance to the main plot! 

There is a major revelation in the last episode but even if you have not guessed it by then, you have suffered enough till that point. During this time, you also can’t ignore the fact that the plot is clearly ‘inspired’ by a film starring Ajay Devgn, which, in turn, was a copy of a Hollywood movie [revealing the names of the films would give away everything]. 

The performances help you sit through the show to some extent. Tejaswini Pandit is impressive while playing two disparate characters – a shy and introverted girl-next-door and the brash and ruthless killer. Sachit Patil also succeeds in portraying the emotions of a young lawyer who goes through a lot of turmoil. 

Vidyadhar Joshi has played the role of a father quite a few times in recent Marathi films. But over here, he also doubles up as a politician and does justice to the role. Sonali Khare also fits the bill as a senior lawyer. Snehalata Vasaikar and Sanjay Khapre are memorable despite making brief appearances. 

Anuradha is being streamed on Planet Marathi