The Great Indian Murder review: Convoluted procedural lacks cohesion

One can't help but embark upon The Great Indian Murder with certain expectations thanks to the grandiose title. And sure enough, the story takes us to different corners of the country, from Jaisalmer to Chennai, Kolkata to Delhi, and even the Andaman Islands. Linking all these locales is the murder of a deplorable man, whose death was wished upon by many.

Directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia, the Disney+ Hotstar series is a spotty adaptation of diplomat-turned-author Vikas Swarup’s novel Six Suspects. The victim in question is Vikram Rai (Jatin Goswami), the sadistic, misogynistic son of a former Chhattisgarh home minister, Jagannath Rai (Ashutosh Rana). Both father and son are ruthless when it comes to getting their own way.

Vicky has been in the news for a few years now, damaging his father’s political career and future prospects. With his shady business dealings and a devil-may-care attitude towards the law, he has emerged unscathed from legal cases where he was implicated in a murder, thanks to high-level corruption and his father’s connections.

But as he celebrates his latest acquittal with an ill-thought-out party at the same Delhi farmhouse where the incident occurred, Vicky is gunned down during a fireworks display. But who fired the weapon? Over nine convoluted episodes, Dhulia, along with writers Vijay Maurya and Puneet Sharma, introduce us to several people who wanted Vicky dead, including members of his own family.

Overseeing the murder investigation are two individuals, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer Suraj Yadav (Pratik Gandhi) and deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Sudha Bharadwaj (Richa Chadha), who uncover certain truths that end up muddying the waters even more. They find two early scapegoats, a petty thief Munna (Shashank Arora) and Eketi (Mani PR), a tribal man from the Andamans, who both hail from the same Delhi slum.

With state and national politics in play, Yadav and Bharadwaj encounter many personalities, some who had motive and means, and others who are caught up in the larger scheme of things. The book, and in turn, the series has far too many characters to follow. Some have been omitted from here, but still there are too many strands to keep a track of from beginning to end.

Paoli Dam plays actress Shabnam Saxena who is not afraid to take on Vicky, but after the first two episodes, she is not to be seen. Amey Wagh is a plucky vlogger and blogger whose investigations into Vicky and his family might uncover the truth. Sharib Hashmi is a welfare officer assigned to the Andamans, who aids Eketi in tracking down a stolen idol called Ingetayi from his tribe that has left nothing but destruction in its wake as a bad omen.

Raghuvir Yadav, a former bureaucrat who ticks off Vicky, is Mohan Kumar who believes himself to be Mahatma Gandhi, due to a dissociative identity disorder. He switches from a man who loves his meat, alcohol and mistress to one who extols celibacy and non-violence. So how did he end up being one of many suspects with a gun that night?

The Great Indian Murder proceeds to tell us all this and more in excessive detail, as each episode delves into a suspect or two. Many characters are linked together by convenient coincidences. At the helm is Gandhi’s Yadav who has his orders from the top to make sure the case follows a certain narrative. Chadha’s Bharadwaj is a bit more principled in trying to find out what actually happened, but in the end, she is pretty much powerless to right any wrongs.

The show's underlying message — that money and power alone prevail and that those at the bottom of the totem pole must suffer — is depressing. The problem is the series just puts this forth in a matter-of-fact manner, unlike other shows such as Paatal Lok (2020) and Undekhi (2020), where the nuanced commentary about corruption and crime and the larger plot were balanced effectively.

Moreover, all of these characters’ backstories and other detail are hard to keep track of. Some characters are introduced and forgotten for a few episodes, only to emerge later in the bloated narrative. These overly complex connections could work in the case of books but not in a show. My notes for the series resembled the Charlie Day Pepe Silvia meme from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

But despite the shortcomings of the plot, the artistes make the mystery watchable. There isn’t enough of Gandhi and Chadha, who give notable performances, despite their limited screentime. Unfortunately, we don’t know much about Yadav while Bharadwaj is given some backstory.

Goswami as the reprobate Vicky is delightfully hateable. Yadav has a blast with Mohan Kumar, whose personalities shift with the tone of the show. Rana, Arora, Hashmi, and Wagh also captivate.

The one who stood out for me was Mani PR’s Eketi, a disenfranchised innocent who is driven into a corner. His performance was both raw and real; his fate left me saddened.

The Great Indian Murder had the framework for an interesting take on crime and punishment, but it doesn’t quite connect in the way that it hoped to.

The Great Indian Murder is being streamed on Disney+ Hotstar.