Hunkkaar: The Roar is a fairly familiar fight for justice that builds far too many flimsy narratives around its core conflict, runs out of ammunition and speaks out of turn in a needlessly cussing tone, observes Sukanya Verma.
IMAGE: Aneet Kaur Padda and and Fatima Sana Shaikh in Hunkkaar: The Roar.
Key Points
- Hunkkaar: The Roar is a six-part series focusing on a 17-year-old sexual assault victim’s fight for justice against an influential godman.
- Aneet Kaur Padda delivers an authentic performance as the victim Meenu Rawat while Raghuvir Yadav is unrecognisable and compelling as the hypocritical godman, Baapji.
- Despite strong individual performances, the series suffers from a generic treatment of the subject, subpar writing and a sloppy screenplay.
A week after Daayra probed into India’s rampant rape crisis through the purview of a police procedural comes Hunkkaar: The Roar.
In this six-part series created by the husband and wife duo of Karan Darius Kapadia and Nitya Mehra, a 17-year-old victim of sexual assault takes an influential godman to court in hopes of justice, only to encounter endless persecution and judgement at the hands of the law, society and media.
You can find different takes on this theme across fare like Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai, Sia, Ashram and Maharaj. Hunkkaar‘s generic treatment of a widespread problem doesn’t provide any fresh insights but engages in fits and starts on the strength of the talent on board.
Powerful Performances Amidst Flaws
In a project signed on long before Saiyaara‘s success catapulted her to the big league, Aneet Padda appears as the aforementioned minor Meenu Rawat warding off victim blaming and exposing a spiritual fraud for the sexual predator he is.
It’s not an author-backed role but the young actor has a raw, authentic appeal that fuels her rebellious streak until she breaks down before everybody recounting the feeling of horror she is forced to live with every single day in a heartrending climatic scene.
As the devil in divine guise accused under the POCSO act, Raghuvir Yadav slips almost unrecognisably under Sunil Chakosi aka Baapji’s skin. I had once written that when Raghuvir Yadav plays a character, he jumps out of the pages and acquires flesh and blood.
Portraying a much-revered guru figure, enjoying unchallenged autonomy and operating from a fort-sized mansion in a small town of Madhya Pradesh, he makes good on those words.
From the moment he appears on screen, there’s a hypnotic quality obscuring Yadav’s hypocritical gyaan, an undeniable charisma drawing away from his cult leader’s underlying creepiness while he slyly projects a picture of generosity among the marginalised and builds an army of fanatical followers.
Narrative Weaknesses and Unresolved Subplots
Details of Baapji’s clout are as fuzzy as his long list of victims, many of whom are brainwashed into believing his crimes are blessings for his chosen ones.
Over the course of its six episodes titled Aarambh, Aastha, Shakti, Arth, Yudh and Nyaya, Hunkkaar gets up close and personal with Meenu’s ordeal as she is made to revisit her trauma over and over again against the backdrop of police apathy save for Fatima Sana Shaikh’s sole exception.
Arjun Mathur as the rebellious news anchor refusing to give into pressure from the higher aboves and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Meetu’s underrated lawyer articulate their support in ways these characters on screen usually do. As do Meetu’s distraught parents, played by Rajesh Sharma and Charu Shankar.
All capable actors but often it’s them left raising the bar when the subpar writing lets them down.
Sadly, Hunkkaar never becomes more than a sum of its parts. It’s a fairly familiar fight for justice that builds far too many flimsy narratives around its core conflict, runs out of ammunition and speaks out of turn in a needlessly cussing tone.
Disjointed Viewing Experience
Between episodes of human sacrifices, media created echo chambers, a steadily growing sisterhood ready to report the phony baba on trial and an out-of-control, obnoxious son (Veen) hoping to inherit Baapji’s throne, nothing really comes out of these ‘for better or worse’ developments masterminded by Heeraz Marfatia.
Hunkkaar‘s sloppy screenplay doesn’t have too many well thought out ideas in its arsenal, winging it as the show goes along ensues in randomness of bizarre proportions.
Baapji gets slapped by a guy in prison, threats are made to a journalist about his daughter, a man is about to self-immolate in a crowd but the scene cuts to nothingness as if all vanished in thin air.
Internal friction between Baapji’s son and second-in-command (Zoya Hussain) is half-heartedly raised and conveniently forgotten just like his uttaradhikari-obsessed descendant’s strange spiral into madness.
Skeletons from Fatima Sana Shaikh’s past, Zeeshan Ayyub stepping out of his famous advocate father’s shadow and Vipin Sharma’s hapless father looking for his son feel like add-ons in Hunkkaar‘s already full platter.
Like most subjects centred on rape, Hunkkaar too shudders at the fact how rapes take place every few seconds in some part of the country. What’s terrifying is not only the statistic but how desensitised the world has grown to it as headlines full of sexual violence and babas on bail remind you day after day.
Hunkkaar-The Roar streams on Jio Hotstar.
Hunkkaar-The Roar Review Rediff Rating:
