Flesh Review: Swara Bhasker’s Gritty Portrayal & Akshay Oberoi’s Deranged Performance Add Chutzpah to This Thrilling and Often Disturbing Mini-Series

Flesh Review: After playing a teacher with a bizarre case of split personality in Rasbhari, Swara Bhasker returns in another web-series, Flesh. Danish Aslam (of Break Ke Baad fame) directs this mini-series that is a far cry from Swara's Rasbhari. There is no light-hearted satire here, nor the magnetic sexuality of the protagonist. What you experience in Flesh can often leave you nauseous and deeply disturbed at times. If Rasbhari was about sex ual awakening, then Flesh deals with sexual depravity. Flesh Trailer: Swara Bhasker, Akshay Oberoi's Eros Now Series Takes a Deeper Look At the Grim World of Human Trafficking.

The main plot is about Zoya (Mahima Makwana), the teenage daughter of an NRI couple (Vidya Malvade and Yudhishtir Urs) who is kidnapped, when they come to Mumbai to attend a wedding. She is sold to a girl trafficking gang, where she is supposed to be a 'special delivery'.

The parents plead to the police to help them out, and their hopes finally rest upon ACP Radha (Swara Bhasker). Radha, who heads the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, is a gutsy officer who doesn't follow the book when it comes to apprehending criminals. When she is suspended over a fake encounter, Radha is coaxed by the girl's father to look for her daughter, off the books. She finally concedes to his request and goes on a manhunt that leads to some terrifying discoveries.

Meanwhile there are two parallel subplots running along with Radha's story. One is of two orphan kids, Rajji and Rajat, who are captured by a cruel trio of human traffickers, and their multiple attempts to escape from their clutches.

Watch the Trailer of Flesh:

The other involves Taj (Akshay Oberoi), a dangerous, and malevolent bisexual criminal, operating from Kolkata. And it is his 'consignment' that Zoya is a part of.

Human trafficking has been part of quite a few movies in Bollywood, whether it is mainstream fare like Mardaani, or grim, offbeat films like Love, Sonia. Flesh comes somewhere in the middle. It is pretty fast-paced and highly engaging, with Bhasker giving a rousing performance in the lead. More on her later.

At the same time, Flesh is also grittier, grimmer and deeply disturbing. I had to to fast-forward a few scenes in the first couple of episodes, unable to stomach some of the debauchery and violence on display. Afterwards, the focus on Radha and her determined efforts to bring the gang down brought down the shock value. Or perhaps, I got sensitised or rather numb by the frequent beatings, killings and the occasional vomit-inducing sodomy. OTT Releases Of The Week: Bobby Deol's Class Of '83, Jurnee Smollett's Lovecraft Country, Swara Bhasker's Flesh and More New Content To Binge-Watch!

Were such scenes needed? I asked this same question when I had watched Love, Sonia, a more feral saga that disturbed me so deeply that I had to wash my face several times after the screening to come out of the numbness. In the initial episodes of Flesh, I felt that Danish was sensationalising the dark acts of violence, both sexual and otherwise. A couple of times, the accusation stands true.

However, like with Love, Sonia, the violence becomes necessary to highlight the viciousness of human-trafficking crime, a curse that is affecting not only India, but many other countries in the world. Yes, it is crude at many places, schlocky at others, and some of the scenes could have been toned down. The disturbing tone, however, does enhance the urgency the plot and also reminds you of the depravity of the criminals, who could be worse IRL. Like some of the men (and women) you meet in the series.

The many antagonists of Flesh will leave you nauseated. From Ludo, a sadistic henchman who gores girls who disobeys him, to the vicious trio who holds Rajji and Rajat, to a debauched policeman who is the ringleader of the aforementioned trio, each of the villains will leave you disturbed in one way or the other. The fact that the actors playing these roles are all so natural, makes it even more revolting. Kudos to the casting team here.

But no one feels more savage and cold-hearted than Taj, whose unpredictability and ferociousness make him the most deranged antagonist in recent times. Any scene where he turns up leaves you holding your breath, as you are unsure of what cruelty he is upto next. And there are plenty of that on display, perhaps one of the more disturbing ones being where he pummels a betrayer to a bloody pulp with his bare hands.

Akshay Oberoi absolutely kills it in what is a darkly flamboyant performance, hamming it up without getting overboard. Special mention must also be given to his styling and makeup.

On the other hand, we have the gutsy ACP Radha. After the initial wobble in the first couple of episodes, Flesh goes on fourth gear once Radha gets in the middle of the Zoya case. Even before that, she is a very enigmatic character, turning into another credible example of a woman turning up as a knight in shining armour.

What is commendable about Aslam and his writer Pooja Ladha Surti is that they don't get into the cliche of pointing it out. I can only remember only one scene where a character gender-corrects another, when the latter refers to Radha as a 'policeman'. Apart from that, Flesh plays up Radha's heroism in the most natural way, not getting her waylaid in handling sexism, when the show's already dealing with some of the most vile crimes happening to women. At the same time, while it downplays the chauvinism in the system, Flesh also highlights the lackadaisical attitude the law has towards crimes against women and kids.

Beyond Radha, I also loved how Flesh doesn't contain Zoya as a hapless victim, but someone with a fighting spirit even in her moments of utmost bleakness. Though Mahima, who plays the role, doesn't exactly look a teenager, especially not the daughter of someone as young as Vidya Malvade.

The middle-portions of Flesh are its best parts, especially when it brings in more interesting characters and a couple of shocking subplots.

Overall, Flesh, even with some of its disturbing content, is a very engaging thriller series. What prevents it from crossing over from good to GREAT is perhaps the irksome predictability of the narrative and for playing it too straight.

It doesn't take too much of your time to guess how the three tracks are linked to each, and how each will feed into the other. There are also plenty of plot contrivances, what I feel are the show's way of  getting out of some very sticky writing situations. The portions after Radha lands in Kolkata feel rushed. And like I mentioned before, there are moments and deaths that are purely played for shock value.

The action sequences deserve a little more polish, while the VFX feels obvious in certain places.

Speaking of performances, if Akshay was on scene-stealing mode, then Swara Bhasker pitches a very grounded but gritty portrayal. Swara is damn fantastic in the role, commanding each frame she is in and putting up a kickass act. Towards the end of the series, we see more nuances in her performance, and without giving you any spoilers, Swara does complete justice to how her character is supposed to behave in the circumstances.

Another terrific actor I like to point out is Geeta Agarwal, whose character is a surprise trump card in one of the three parallel tracks. The rest of the supporting cast - Vidya Malvade, Yudhishtir Urs, Rahul Dutta, Mahima Makwana, Sayandeep Sengupta, Natasa Stankovic - play their roles to the desired expectations. The veteran actor Uday Tikekar is suitably slimy and fantastic in the final episodes.

Yay!

- Swara and Akshay Oberoi

- The Evenly Paced Thriller Series

- The Supporting Cast

Nay!

- Depending A Little Too Much on Shock Value

- Predictability in Some of Latter Portions

Final Thoughts

All of eight episodes, Flesh is deeply disturbing saga, just like its main theme of human trafficking is. At the same time, it also turns out to be a well-paced series, even with some of its crude niggles, that is bolstered by Bhasker and Oberoi's performances. Flesh is streaming on Eros Now.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 21, 2020 04:17 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).