Dark 7 White review: Needlessly sexual and lacks engagement

Rating: 2/5

ZEE5 is here with yet another sexually transfused series which lays emphasis on nothing else to ensure the success of a political thriller.

Story

“Democracy is a myth,” says the protagonist as the first episode begins. This is also true for the screenplay of Dark 7 White.

Dark 7 White is set in Jaipur, Rajasthan and pans through the years 2009 to 2019. After a freshly elected CM Yudhveer Singh gets assassinated, a bunch of his closest allies become suspects.

Through a back and forth journey from his early years in politics to his prime, Dark 7 White tries to unveil the assassin’s face. The dead CM and former Prince Yudhveer Singh himself narrates the proceedings of his investigation.

Full of Rajasthani folk music in the background, Royal palaces and a chain of Boleros chasing each other, Dark 7 White soon becomes a tedious journey to nowhere.

Performances

Dark 7 White has many familiar and new faces in the front seats leading the show forward. But unfortunately, most of them and their talent get wasted.

Sumeet Vyas plays Yudhveer Singh, who is the living embodiment of everything evil. Vyas is an exemplary actor but every time he is on screen, there is an unsaid expectation that he will say something funny.

The trailer might have made fans look forward to see him pair up with Nidhi Singh again but there is no other character whose talents have been wasted more than hers. Most females in the show are written with little to no character arc.

The only character who shines is Inspector Abhimanyu Singh played by Jatin Sarna. His screen presence is something close to relief in this otherwise mismanaged plot.

Positives

Dark 7 White celebrates the vibrancy of Rajasthan in its own way. If one looks closely, apart from the background score and set, even costumes reflect the state.

The mystery quotient does persist till the very end. Dark 7 White doesn’t take time to come to the point. This was also evident in the trailer. The first episode gets one hooked since the first second.

There is a visible effort at inclusivity. Two homosexual characters are in the lead and they’re not stereotyped into their common perceptions.

Negatives

Yudhveer Singh’s character is shown as an evil genius. But that is far from true. Essentially, he digs up unnecessary problems, gets out of them and claims to be a pioneer.

When viewers are expected to take something like that seriously only because it concerns politics, it seems insulting and too lethargic to sit through.

There are some problematic sequences concerning Reservation and a woman faking her sexual harassment. The selection of these topics is not the problem, however. The absolute lack of context and profound analysis of sensitive issues like these is what poses the problem.

Now, even if there is an effort at inclusivity, modern ideas like feminism, toxic masculinity and homosexuality exist only for the sake of it. There is a visible loss of efforts at sustaining these ideas till the end.

Dark 7 White represents a doctored reality that doesn’t exist. Politicians don’t interrupt rallies and talk to the protestors. And right after showing this, the show represents how evil this one rare politician is.

With suspense and mystery, the screenplay works with elements that are already introduced. It doesn’t introduce a totally fresh perspective in the climax that was absent the whole time, quite what Dark 7 White did.

Worth It?

Dark 7 White is ten-episode long but will be over before you know it, not because it’s that engaging but because you might keep skipping away.

The first few episodes might accurately tell you if it suits you or not.


Also Read: Chhalaang review: Ensemble cast makes tired script cross the finish line

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