Candy Review: Ronit Roy, Richa Chaddha's Suspenseful Thriller Series Gets Mired By Cliched Characters And Underwhelming Climax

Candy Review: Back in the day, Doordarshan was obsessed with a multi-starrer suspense thriller called Jaani Dushman. The movie was aired every week either on a Friday or on a Sunday evening. No, it isn't the abhorring Armaan Kohli serpent saga with equally depressing cameos of stars. This movie released in 1979 and talked about a man who turns into a monster, abducts the brides of the village, and kills them. Candy takes a similar route and does a seemingly good job at the start. But soon, it becomes the victim of its own genre tropes. Candy: Ronit Roy, Richa Chadha Talk About Their Roles in Upcoming Crime Series

Mehul Awasthi (Mihir Ahuja), a student of a local school in Rudrakund, is found brutally killed and pinned to a tree. This leads to chaos in this quaint hill station in Uttarakhand. Jayant (Ronit Roy), Mehul's mentor, is devastated. His own personal loss aggravates the situation for him. Mehul's friend Kalki Rawat (Riddhi Kumar) is missing and one fine day, she shows up at Jayant's outhouse. She blames the monster from local folklore as the murderer of Mehul, the Masaan (Aditya Syal). While the DSP of Rudrakund Ratna (Richa Chaddha) dismisses it as a fable, Jayant is convinced there is some truth to the tale. The breadcrumbs are in the form of candy which isn't just candy. They lead to Vayu Ranawat (Nakul Roshan Sahdev), the son of a local political heavyweight and Jayant follows him.

The fact that Candy highly resembles Jaani Dushman is a reason enough to watch the series. Repurposing a story like that with modern elements holds a lot of promise. Agrim Joshi and Debojiy Das Purkaystha manage to do that quite well. The series doesn't waste time establishing the characters. It gets to the point from the first episode itself and builds the characters as it moves ahead. That adds a lot of intrigue to the plot as one not just watches Masaan's story unfold but the personal turmoils of the people in the series as well. The monster gets a shout-out here because the growl does get to you although those red eyes are pretty juvenile.

But what mires the experience here is the oft-seen characters. A male protagonist with a troubled past, his wife in a certain state of despair after a personal loss, a cop suspicious links, the ugly discord between a local politician and his wayward son and a hill station - these tropes are present in every other suspense thrillers these days. This makes the entire series extremely predictable. You know beforehand what's going to happen next because the character behaved in a similar fashion in some other web series or a movie. The revelations thus lose the potential to stun the viewers. Candy: Mikhael Kantroo Opens Up About Challenges of Playing the Role of ‘Luka’ in Richa Chadha and Ronit Roy’s Thriller Series

Given the fact that it became quite predictable to the point that you would guess the killer in the second episode itself, the end is utterly underwhelming. Plus, it leaves a lot of loose ends behind in a bid to make that shocking last reveal. I will refrain from listing them here because that would be revealing a little too much in a review.

Watch the trailer of Candy

Performances are the hook that will keep people with Candy till the last. Ronit Roy owns his role as a distraught father and a well-meaning teacher. Richa Chaddha simply shines in such earthy roles where she can go all-out. Her laidback style of acting blends with the character of Ratna seamlessly. Manu Rishi Chaddha as the powerful and deceptive local politician is simply perfect and so is Riddhi Kumar as Kalki. However, Nakul Roshan Sahdev's Vayu is less impressive. Every time there's a moment he needs to show anger, his movements get too shaky. It loses impact.

Yay!

- Masaan the monster and his growl

-Good performances

-Jaani Dushman revival

Nay!

-Cliched characters

-Predictable twists

-Underwhelming climax

Final verdict:

Candy could have been a sensational suspense thriller that has been eluding us for a while now. But the predictability of the character moves becomes a bummer. Candy streams on Voot Select on September 8.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 07, 2021 10:40 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).