Web Series- Charlie Chopra and the Mystery of Solang Valley
Producer and Director-Vishal Bhardwaj
Cast-Vamika Gabbi, Neena Gupta, Lara Dutta, Naseeruddin Shah, Rachna Pathak Shah, Priyanshu Painyuli, Gulshan Grover, Huma Qureshi and others
Platform – Sony Liv
Rating – Three
National Award winning director Vishal Bhardwaj, one of the best directors in the industry, has now turned to the new medium OTT after TV and films. His web series Charlie Chopra The Mystery of Solang Valley is streaming these days. After TV shows and films, literature has also become his inspiration for web series. His series is based on a detective novel by Agatha Christie. It was not easy to adapt this novel written in the beginning of the 19th century to the Indian environment, but Vishal Bhardwaj has mastered it, once again he has proved this in the series. Along with the twists and turns in the story of this series, he has presented the humor, music and characters on screen with a native touch. Because of which, despite some flaws, this series has become engaging and entertaining.
Story exposing murder conspiracy
Talking about the story of the series, it is the story of Charulata alias Charlie Chopra (Vamika Gabbi). Jo has come to Solang Valley to save her fiancé Jimmy Nautiyal (Vivaan Shah), who has been accused of murdering her rich relative Brigadier Meharban (Gulshan Grover). The evidence is against him. He is in police custody. The police just want to end this case quickly, but their detective Charlie Chopra is trying to get to the bottom of this case in his own way so that he can catch the real murderer and save his fiance. In which she investigates everyone from the Brigadier’s family, friends to well-wishers. During this time, he comes to know many shocking secrets, will these secrets lead him to the real murderer? Meanwhile, more murders also start taking place. Will Charlie be able to figure it all out? This is what this story of six episodes tells. At the end of the series, the path for its sequel has also been left, so that the makers can decide on this path further after the success of the series.
Advantages and disadvantages of the series
Very little work has been done on the detective genre in Hindi cinema. On top of that, this genre has been explored only a few times by placing a woman in the lead role. Vishal Bhardwaj deserves congratulations for this. The series starts with witchcraft. In which a Tantrik predicts that the Brigadier is going to die. This gives a different color to the series, but as the series progresses. It not only engages but also entertains. The series also has humor, which has been the specialty of Vishal Bhardwaj’s cinema. The way the story has been told on screen, you yourself start solving the puzzle of who is the murderer. Almost every character of this series is grey, in which most of the actors have special names, which makes this murder mystery interesting because after this, every character becomes suspicious. The story is not only on investigation but also the back story of many characters including Charlie himself. The music of the Hai series has also become excellent. Talking about the shortcomings, the story of the series got dragged in the middle two episodes. The location of this series plays an important role like a character, which is working to deepen the mystery in this mystery-filled series, but at many places the series has been shot on a dark screen, which makes it difficult to focus. Apart from this, while watching the series, it is often felt that there are many special acting names in the series and they should have got a little more space in the story.
The casting of the series is amazing
Vamika Gabbi is making her strong presence in the field of OTT with projects one after the other. This series is its sequel. This is her third project with producer-director Vishal Bhardwaj, but she is playing the lead role for the first time. Why have you trusted him so much as an actor? This thing becomes clear after watching the series, there is an ease in the way she plays the character of Charlie, which is very special. Along with this, she directly communicates with the audience in the series. Very few artists are able to do this experiment in such a precise manner. The scene in which he talks on the telephone shows his acting range very well. After Vamika, Priyanshu has been successful in attracting attention as an actor. Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Gulshan Grover and Neena Gupta have made the series interesting with their presence. Lara Dutta deserved more screen time. The rest of the actors have also done justice to their characters.