Afsos Review: 'Afsos' which means regret is one of those things that we experience or feel at many points in a lifetime. Even as you may find people adding 'No regrets' to their bios with pride, it is but human nature to be remorseful of their own deeds more often than not. As for our protagonist in the new Amazon Prime series, Nakul (Gulshan Devaiah) is so done with his life and the number of rejections that it has come with that he's determined to end it. Having a suicidal man as your protagonist in a black comedy like Afsos truly shows how digital content is pushing new boundaries when it comes to content. Afsos Trailer: Gulshan Devaiah's Next Web Outing Is An Intense Cat and Mouse Suspense Drama (Watch Trailer).

After Nakul (Devaiah) fails to die in about eleven attempts of suicide including by trying to drown himself and sleeping on the train tracks, he learns of an agency who help people commit suicide. To help people with 'Easy Exit', Maria (Ratnabali Bhattacharya) runs an agency that lets people choose how they want to die, by jumping off the cliff with help from her partner Ujjwal Chopra's character or by getting shot by her hitman Upadhyay (Heeba Shah). In the same timeline is another plot running related to an elixir in India that belongs to an immortal man who resides in Mumbai and brings Fokatiya Baba, a monk from  Uttarakhand to travel to the city in search of him.

As life and death play cat and mouse in this game, the series moves on from one twist to another with eight episodes clocking not more than thirty minutes each.

There's no doubt that the plot is intriguing and the first three episodes totally hook you in. Although Nakul's (Devaiah) therapy sessions with his counsellor, Shloka (Anjali Patil) seem rather odd and the justification given later doesn't make much sense.  Also,  as opposed to Nakul's quite literal 'die trying' (to die) acts, the sub-plot with the 'immortal'  elixir takes a shaky start and further keeps pulling down this show. Had writers Dibya Chatterjee and Anirban Dasgupta kept Nakul and Upadhyay as their main focus, it would have been much better series given that it is this elixir that brings in too many unnecessary characters. There's also a total senseless sequence involving Queen Elizabeth II and her Buckingham Palace phone call, all for one elixir.

The dialogue writing is sharp no doubt with ample of puns on life and death. There are also a few deep quotes such as 'Men are mortal but deeds are immortal' that come during a nice exchange between the characters of Aakash Dahiya's Uttarakhand cop and a Mumbai police inspector. Shloka's character too is cleverly written and I won't elaborate it much given that there's a good amount of surprises there. The weakest points in the series though are the ones involving Jamie Alter's character Dr Goldfish, who's come to India in search of the 'immortality potion'.  Apart from this, the other sub-plot involving a young journalist who first breaks the story of the 'immortal potion' is even worse.  Her character could have easily been done with.

Even as the plot takes a hit in the later episodes, Anubhuti Kashyap's direction tries to keep each episode taut. Some scenes brilliantly stand out such as the one where Upadhyay (Shah) shoots a person right through her painting. There's also the one where Nakul keeps waiting for the shooter to arrive as he paces back and forth his place.

The climax is as messy as the series and take what you can from it. It's possible that the show may continue after this or the makers could just keep it as an open ending. The series is strictly a black comedy and hence reading too much into it in terms of the portrayal of mental health issues may not be fair.

Gulshan Devaiah once again shines with his amazing performance. He channels in the demeanour of a man who has given up so well that you believe his struggles and sympathize with him from the word go. He particularly impresses in the scenes where he has no dialogues but perfectly conveys his state of mind.  Gulshan Devaiah Reveals Dibakar Banerjee Is the Reason He Did Netflix’s Ghost Stories.

Anjali Patil does a good job as Nakul's therapist Shloka. Like I said earlier, her character has an interesting twist in the series that you may not see coming. Heeba Shah as the contract killer suits the part. A particular scene of her character at the visa office is a total winner. Aakash Dahiya does a fairly honest job at playing a Uttarakhand police officer finding himself all isolated while trying to fit in with the Mumbai police and crack the case that brings him to the city.

Check out the Trailer Here:

Danish Sait makes an appearance as Jim, another person in search for the elixir. He overdoes in a scene where Nakul and Fokatiya Baba lose the elixir bottle and honestly, you kind of wait for his character to get done with.

The series has a set of guest appearances including Dhruv Sehgal and Biswa Kalyan Rath.

Yay!

- Gulshan Devaiah gives an honest performance

- The series forms a good amount of intrigue in the first two episodes

Nay!

- Too many sub-plots ruin this black comedy

- The poorly done Queen Elizabeth II sequence

Final Verdict:

Afsos works but only in parts. It has a great premiss at hand an and even amazing actor in lead but it doesn't make the most of it. Gulshan Devaiah effortlessly pulls off this character and tries to keeps us entertained but can't do much given how too many sub-plots ruin the original tale at hand.

Rating:2.5

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 06, 2020 10:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).