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In the crime-drama thriller ‘Kankhajura’ starring Roshan Mathew, Mohit Raina, and Sarah Jane Dias, Ashu’s return after being imprisoned shatters his brother Max’s life. Bound by blood and fractured by crime, the two are ensnared in a shadowy web of secrets and ruthless predators as they confront their tangled past. Bringing to you Kankhajura – Andar se khaneko tayyar hai!
Episodes
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E1: Dhakta BhaavAfter serving time behind bars for the murder of a foreign tourist, Ashu is released from prison. He leverages his manipulative skills to weave his way back into his brother Max's life, hoping to make up for lost time. -
E2: Shastri ColonyDetermined to impress Max, Ashu takes matters into his own hands as a local crime family poses a threat to his brother's project. He reconnects with a childhood friend and comes to realize just how much has changed in the time he spent in prison.
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E3: TotriyaFollowing the disastrous launch party, tensions between Max and the Deshmukh family reach a breaking point. Meanwhile, Ashu seizes the opportunity to prove himself, while growing closer to Amy.
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E4: Durghatna Sambhavit KshetraAfter a brutal attack, Ashu is left confined to a hospital bed. Meanwhile, Max's thirst for revenge begins to drive a wedge between him and Shardul.
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E5: Kala KuanAshu helps Max to overcome obstacles facing his project, putting his loyalty towards Leena to the test. Meanwhile, after her attack, Nisha pressures Max to reassess his priorities.
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E6: Gang Ka JokerStranded in the middle of nowhere, Pedru and Shardul force Max to confront childhood memories he'd rather forget. Meanwhile, Ashu and Nisha explore the same past but arrive at different conclusions, and Leena pays Amy a visit.
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E7: Aafat GirayengeHurt and betrayed, Ashu is out for vengeance, but Leena steers him toward a more lawful path with unexpected consequences. Meanwhile, Max and Santosh Mama present their proposal to the Urban Planning Commission.
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E8: Motha BhaavAs Ashu tightens the noose around Max, Pedru and Shardul suffer devastating consequences, while Nisha contemplates her future. Ashu and Max find themselves locked in a cell together, forced to confront their past and each other.
Kankhajura Review: Star Rating:
Cast: Roshan Mathew, Mohit Raina, Ninad Kamat, Mahesh Shetty, Sarah Jane Dias, Trinetra Haldar, and others
Creator: Adapted from the Israeli Series Magpie
Director: Chandan Arora
Streaming On: Sony Liv
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 8 episodes of 40 minutes each
When something creeps on you, you have to find that thing and object because it feels like it is crawling everywhere! Something similar happened to me when I watched the Kankhajura teaser. I was excited to watch this web series and the feeling intensified once the trailer arrived! And while I was not very sure of watching this whole at once, something crept into me, and I kept shunning it, deciding to watch just one more episode, till I binged on the entire web series!
Starring Roshan Mathew as the lead, the plot was well explained in the trailer itself! Roshan plays Ashu, a boy who was in jail for a murder. He is back in the real world after 14 years. However, he has a deadly skill set – he nails the art of manipulation, and it turns dangerous with each passing episode!
Kankhajura Review: What’s It About:
Ashu’s brother, Max, played by a sharp Mohit Raina, encourages him to rehabilitate, but Max’s childhood friends, Pedro and Shardul, who used to bully Ashu along with Max, are suspicious of Ashu’s comeback. Ashu does what he wanted to do in childhood, enters this gang of three, and is once again bullied and ousted!
However, Kankhajura is totally not about Ashu getting bullied, it builds from the moment when Ashu gets a reality check and decides to retaliate. His only aim in life has been seeking validation and love from his elder brother Max. But what happens when he isn’t validate despite all that he does forms the core of Kankhajura!
Kankhajura’s writing by Chandan Arora, along with Sandeep Jain and Upendra Sidhaye, is brilliant in terms of Ashu’s character! He is a manipulator, and you will watch him survive the worst on his own, just like a cockroach! While the entire world might fall apart, a cockroach will survive, and Ashu will too! While his physical and mental instincts function like a cockroach for himself, he is a parasite for others, and especially his brother Max!
Kankhajura Review: What Doesn’t Work:
The flaw here is while creating Ashu, they forgot to create everyone else! So Roshan Mathew grows huge but the series falls short! The first half builds the premise very strongly, but the second half turns into the tower, built in a hurry, dilapidating devastatingly, despite having so much on their plate – right from the flashbacks to how Ashu was convicted of a murder he did not commit to backstories of the characters! All of it is bound together with a weaker storyline that is developing visible enough cracks!
Kankhajura Review: Star Performance:
Roshan Mathew is a charmer. His uncanny ability to convey a thousand emotions with just a twitch of his eyebrow delivers a masterclass in quiet intensity. He’s the kind of actor who makes you lean in, even when you are entirely sure that you should not trust his character. Roshan doesn’t need loud dialogues or dramatic gestures; a flicker in his eyes and a slight shift in his body language change his entire aura on the screen, and he conveys volumes. He is that actor who makes you feel genuinely uncomfortable, in the best possible way, because his portrayal as a psychopath is so unsettlingly real. If Kankhajura manages to crawl its way into your head, it will largely be because of Roshan’s performance!
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Kankhajura Review: What Works:
Sony Liv has a knack for creating worlds that feel lived-in and unsettling, and this series is no exception. The rawness in this web series is expertly crafted, and what adds to this brilliance is the theme track for Roshan’s character. It is gritty and powerful, and does not give you any time to judge Ashu. It just syncs your thought process with Ashu’s, and you would just want to know who he is manipulating next!
In a complex mystery, every piece matters, and a weak link in the ensemble can derail even the most promising premise. However, except for Ashu, none of the characters have been backed by powerful writing. Mohit Raina plays the bully brother, along with Ninad Kamat and Mahesh Shetty, as his friends. The three have held the series in a terrific way, but nothing satisfying comes their way. The same happens with Usha Nadkarni’s role as a powerful goon! Sarah Jane Dias and Trinetra Haldar, as Roshan’s well-wishers, do have a little impact, but even their characters have nowhere to go!
Kankhajura Review: Last Words:
I had a very firm stand to not watch this one at a go because, come on, how many more hidden pasts and morally ambiguous protagonists can one binge-watcher handle before needing a therapy session? So, I was adamant on this one. But Roshan Mathew literally crept into my mind and manipulated me to watch this gem. And trust me, all the while, I had sensations jaise sansanahat, sarsarahat, gudgudahat…and everything else Parineeti Chopra has said in that dialogue from Hasee Toh Phasee, which is now a Meme asset!
Roshan Mathew’s Ashu should definitely be a study material for psychology students. This how sociopaths exist. No, I do not love Ashu, but still I cannot help root for him and this is where the writing of Kankhajura wins!
3.5 stars!
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