Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein review: Dark, twisty tale of obsession and love that falters repeatedly

Sidharth Sengupta’s Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein (2022) turns the tables on the twisted love triangle. Borrowing its title from the hit Baazigar (1993) song featuring Shah Rukh Khan, the plot could be right out of those Hindi masala films of the period, except the object of affection here is male, not female.

Vikrant Singh Chauhan (Tahir Raj Bhasin) imagines a simple life for himself. A humble salary, a modest home and the woman he loves, his college sweetheart Shikha (Shweta Tripathi Sharma), by his side. But the return of Purva (Anchal Singh), daughter of his father’s boss, to the fictional town of Onkara upends his life and whole being.

Vikrant’s father Suryakant (Brijendra Kala) works as the accountant of powerful politician Akhiraj Awasthi (Saurabh Shukla) and worships the ground Awasthi walks on. He sends Vikrant into the lion’s den where he bumps into Purva again after all these years. Something about her unsettles him, and with good reason. His simple dreams go up in flames and he finds himself chained to a life he doesn’t want with a woman he can’t stand.

But his protestations are drowned out as his unfeeling family members push him towards a union with the Awasthi family, and he is forced to play down his romance with Shikha. The deeper he falls in with Akhiraj, Purva and their domineering lifestyle, the more he tries to claw his way out. In each of the eight episodes, Vikrant thinks he has a solution, but someone (and fate) is always one step ahead of him, making sure he doesn't succeed.

The series opens with a quote from Shakespeare’s play Othello: “For she had eyes and chose me.” Purva wants to possess Vikrant, but it isn’t explained clearly why she chose the one child who wouldn’t befriend her to be fixated upon as an adult. Her line to Vikrant as children, “Humare friend banoge [will you be my friend]?” is a twist on the familiar Hindi film dialogue, “Mujhse dosti karoge?”, most famously used in another Shah Rukh Khan-starrer, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998).

Despite Vikrant’s desperate need to escape Purva and her family, he doesn’t go about it in a calm, calculated manner. He is careless in ways that come back to bite him later. As narrator of his entrapment, he tells us, “Aur ek imaandar aadmi jab beimani par utarta hai na, toh woh beimani beiman banane ke liye nahi, imaandari se badla lene ke liye karta hai [And when an honest man has to resort to dishonesty, it's not for the sake of being dishonest, but to exact revenge with utmost honesty].”

Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein plays out in the same vein as Undekhi (2020), which was written by Sengupta. Anchal Singh and Surya Sharma, who were prominent in that drama, are part of the same family this time; Surya is Akheraj’s henchman Dharmesh and adopted son. Like Undekhi, this, too, shows us how those in power and privilege abuse their position, but the Netflix show has far too many outlandish twists, including one at the end of each episode.

Anahata Menon’s story had the dark potential, thanks to its gender twist, but Sengupta’s screenplay sends it careening in several directions. Thankfully, Varun Badola’s clever dialogues add the much needed dark humour to keep our interest going.

The series has some pleasing original songs that set it apart from other recent Hindi web-series. The original score and background music by Shivam Sengupta and Anuj Danait is a definite plus.

Tahir Raj Bhasin is wonderful as the trapped Vikrant whose schemes never actually come to fruition. The actor is best when he wavers in his resolve, when attempting to get rid of Purva or when persuading Shikha to wait for him. At one point, he learns how to cry from the internet; one more scheme that doesn't go as planned.

Anchal Singh plays Purva with a perpetual half-smirk and a hint of menace; we never know what to expect from her. Tripathi doesn’t have much to do but react after the first episode, while Arunoday Singh makes a late entry as a hitman. Anantvijay Joshi as Vikrant’s school friend Golden lends great support to Vikrant’s plans.

The two veterans Shukla and Kala keep things watchable as the plot goes haywire. Shukla is terrific as usual as the all-powerful politician who wouldn’t hesitate to strike down anyone in his path and Kala is first-rate as Vikrant’s father who can’t believe his good-for-nothing son’s fate when he is chosen by Purva.

But the constant need to shock and set back Vikrant (and put forth the kernels for the second season) becomes tiresome while watching the series at one go. It has become de rigeur for international series to end on cliffhangers, leaving viewers wanting more. But having invested time and energy into Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein, I just wanted answers that weren’t forthcoming at all.

Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein is now available on Netflix.