Last Updated: June 11, 2021, 10:28 IST
Sunflower
Cast: Sunil Grover, Mukul Chaddha, Ranvir Shorey, Saloni Patel
Director: Vikas Bahl
Web series Sunflower, also the name of the housing society it chooses to center its erratic murder mystery plot around, tries to blend elements of humour with drama that ends up being neither compelling nor enjoyable. Throughout the eight-episode run, the focus keeps shifting from one character to another without any interesting hook for the viewers to lean into. Sure, you may choose to call them quirky, but really, they are just uninteresting and an end result of half-hearted characterisation.
At the heart of Sunflower is a murder mystery that gets things rolling and brings the attention on a group of residents in a Mumbai co-operative society. Sonu (Sunil Grover) and Mr. Ahuja (Mukul Chaddha) become the top suspects and are under the police radar for their odd behaviour. But the buddy cop duo DG (Ranvir Shorey) and Chetan Thambe (Girish Kulkarni) keep chasing red herrings until the last 30-odd minutes or so of the runtime, making you question if the case is in capable hands or not. You’ll find yourself wanting to get to the bottom of the ‘who killed’ question more than the makers or the law enforcement.
Characters are forcibly introduced for the most part to stretch the plot further and further and cram in humour. This keeps leading the viewers into the walls. We are constantly served with Sunil Grover’s ill attempts at delivering outdated, cell phone jokes with very little sincerity. When he is on a break from that, he turns to slapstick, which is even more disappointing as the situations are just too bland. Looking back, there are fonder memories of his comic characters on TV. Here he is a terrible misfit, just as Sonu is in his surroundings.
For a mystery that should warrant unwavering attention, Sunflower is constantly distracting and sub-standard. You will not regret sitting this one out.
Rating: 1/5
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