Karmma Calling Review: Raveena Tandon and Namrata Sheth's 'Revenge' Drama is a Hollow Soap Opera Masquerading as a Thriller (LatestLY Exclusive)

Karmma Calling Review: After delivering forgettable remakes of English shows like The Office, Luther, Everybody Loves Raymond, and more, Bollywood turns its attention to Mike Kelley's hit show Revenge, that starred Madeline Stowe and Emily Vancamp. The Hindi adaptation, Karmma Calling, created by Ruchi Narain, features Raveena Tandon and Namrata Sheth. The series follows a young woman seeking vengeance against a billionaire family and their aides for their actions against her father. Karmma Calling Review: Raveena Tandon's Disney+ Hotstar Show Is Enjoyable Watch But Has Loopholes, Say Critics.

Karmma Calling = Baazigar Lite?

Firstly, I haven't seen Revenge so of course, I am not in a position to make any comparisons. Karmma Calling revolves around Karma (Namrata Sheth), a young socialite in Alibaug. The elite community there idolises the Kotharis, a powerful business family led by matriarch Indrani (Raveena Tandon). Indrani, a former actress, holds sway over the family. Karma slowly makes inroads into Indrani's family, winning the confidence of her allies before taking them down, seducing her elder son Aham (Varun Sood), and destroying Indrani's family from within. Indrani doubts Karma is Trouble, but by then, her son is completely head over heels in love with Karma.

Watch the Trailer of Karmma Calling:

As I mentioned, not having seen the show, I am obviously oblivious to what made Revenge popular with its fan base, boasting a 7.8 rating on IMDb. If I expected the remake to answer that for me, Karmma Calling is no help in that aspect at all (it reminded me of quite a lot of Baazigar... too many parallels to ignore). The show comes across as a run-of-the-mill revenge drama lacking exceptional storytelling or standout performances.

But No Badlapur...

Most of the characters feel like they are borrowed from a Madhur Bhandarkar film and remain vacuous characters that border on being caricaturish or weirdly out of sync with the real world. In between, there is a germ of an idea about how revenge can consume you, but Karmma Calling ain't no Badlapur. Instead, what the series becomes is a set of episodes where Karma takes down one opponent after another through very convenient means (an exposure of an affair, an MMS clip, a conveniently hidden cam working their magic).

The storytelling is overly simplistic and melodramatic, stripping the show of any semblance of tension, often belabouring the obvious. In one scene, Karmma, disguised as a waitress, taints the ordered food to cause discomfort for her target. We witness her adding the medicine to the dish right in his room, but the scene raises the question as to why she did not do that right before she entered the room without the needless risk of being caught in the act by her victim.

The one subplot that invokes some sort of intrigue is the flashback involving Karmma's father (Rohit Roy) and why Kotharis wanted him out of the way, and that's only because this track is broken down and scattered across the show in a non-linear pattern. When Karma begins to develop feelings for Aham while also being attracted to her childhood friend Vedant (Rachit Singh), the track doesn't carry the emotional weightiness that was needed to make Karma's romantic crisis work, more so because none of these characters are backed by writing that evokes any empathy.

Hum Shuddh Gareeb Hai

There is a parallel love track involving Indrani's younger daughter Mira (Devangshi Sen), an Instagram influencer, and Vedant's younger brother Dash (Piyush Khati), who keeps reiterating how poor his family is. I mean, he says he is so 'poor' that he doesn't even bother to apply for a passport, never mind that he owns a cafe. This understanding of abject poverty is merely one of the many examples you can mark as the shallowness in which these characters and tracks are written.

A Very 'Forest'-y Cast

And then there are the performances, or, for the better use of the word here, 'timber work'. There is so much 'wood' in the acting that even Amazon rainforests might suffer from anxiety issues. Most of the actors seem to be given cues to take tips from soap operas, what with those pointed glares and snidey expressions. Even the dependable Raveena Tandon looks out of place here, trying to channel her inner 'Ramola Sikand'. And I hate this show just for making me write that sentence.

Final Thoughts on Karmma Calling

In the end, Karmma Calling becomes an unremarkable blend of superficial storytelling and even shallower performances. It lacks the emotional depth and dynamism needed to elevate it beyond the realms of a standard revenge drama. Karmma Calling is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 26, 2024 02:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).