Charlie Chopra Episode 1 Review: Wamiqa Gabbi Makes for a Spunky 'Agatha Christie' Detective in Vishal Bhardwaj's Talent-Laden WhoDunnit! (LatestLY Exclusive)

Charlie Chopra Episode 1 Review: It's raining 'Agatha Christie', Hallelujah! Bollywood seems to have found a renewed love for the famous author and the incredible influences of her works. While Kenneth Branagh is readying his third outing as the author's most famous detective Hercule Poirot in A Haunting in Venice, here we have Neeyat coming out next week where Vidya Balan investigates a killing in an Agatha Christie setup. However, before that, SonyLIV dropped a surprise in form of the first episode of Charlie Chopra, Vishal Bhardwaj's adaptation of the Agatha Christie-whodunnit The Sittaford Mystery. Charlie Chopra & the Mystery of Solang Valley Motion Poster Out Now! Watch First Glimpse Video of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Eerie Mystery Thriller Series Based on Agatha Christie Novel.

Charlie Chopra opts for this interesting promotional strategy even when there is no proper trailer for the series yet and it expects to be the talk of the town with the first episode. Well, to say the very least, the first episode of Charlie Chopra, whose screenplay is written by VB, Jyotsna Hariharan and Anjum Rajabali, does quite a few things set right. It establishes the main mystery, the suspects and the possible motives, while introducing to us the very Punjabi Charlie Chopra, who may be into organic farming, but is a good snooper and also keeps breaking the fourth wall.

In Salong, during a night of heavy snowfall, the Rawats organise a seance, wherein their family baba (Naseeruddin Shah) invokes the spirit of a Lady Rose, who supposedly tells him that their uncle, a rich but unmarried Brigadier Rawat (Gulshan Grover), who stays alone in Manali, is going to die that night. And guess what, that exactly happens, thereby setting the murder mystery on the motion.

Charlie Chopra (Wamiqa Gabbi) from Chandigarh gets involved, because her fiance Jimmy (Vivaan Shah) is the main suspect, having met his dead uncle the previous night asking for money and not getting any. Charlie travels to Salong, where she also encounters a deceptive journalist (Priyanshu Painyuli), and meets the rest of the family, as we fins out that nearly all of them had an eye on the dead man's property. However, a twist occurs near the end of the episode thereby deepening the mystery and also increasing the suspects.

Watch the Motion Poster of Charlie Chopra:

Let me say the most tantalising aspect about Vishal Bhardwaj's new outing - what a cast he has brought here! Not sure how long her fourth-wall-breaks will turn from whimsical and annoying, but the pretty Wamiqa Gabbi is nailing the part well. The actress, who is enjoying quite the accolades post Jubilee, has managed to create a striking impression, and I am eager to see how she takes control of the investigation (which the first episode hasn't allowed her to do yet). However, I also wish the character had gotten a better sequence to establish her deduction skills to the audience than what she gets here where she has to figure out where a smelly pair of shoes are hidden at a Delhi wedding. Also, for a supposedly smart detective like her, it's strange that she shares a coffee and some insights, even if reluctantly, on herself with a stranger, who later turns out to be a snoopy reporter. Charlie Chopra & The Mystery of Solang Valley: Vishal Bhardwaj Adapts Agatha Christie's The Sittaford Mystery For Sony LIV!

Charlie Chopra also turns out to be a Naseeruddin Shah family gettogether, with the veteran actor playing the harbinger baba, while his wife Ratna Pathak Shah plays a drink-loving wheelchair-confined grandmother. Younger son Vivaan plays the unfortunate but secretive main suspect, while Imaad Shah plays Billu, his sarcastic and self-absorbed elder brother. I have also read that Naseeruddin Shah's elder daughter Heeba Shah is also in the cast, though she wasn't there in the first episode, so that's nearly all the cards in the pack!

Even the rest of the cast looks great, which includes Lara Dutta, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Paoli Dam, Priyanshu Painyuli and the veteran Gulshan Grover. The snow-capped locales of both Manali and Salong Valley add an icy tinge to the mystery.

Final Thoughts

Charlie Chopra gets the cast and the intrigue around the mystery setup right, but will it sustain ahead? Knowing the director's calibre, I am not wrong in hoping for for some optimism and expecting SonyLIV to drop the rest of the episodes soon enough.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 30, 2023 05:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).