REVIEW:The First Weekend Of 'Koi Laut Ke Aaya Hai' Was A Complete Buzzkill!

Produced By: Sphere Origins

Cast: Surbhi Jyoti, Shoaib Ibrahim, Sharad Kelkar, Shaleen Malhotra, Mita Vashisht, Ekroop Bedi, Sreejita De, Nivedita Bhattacharya.

Story So Far:

Set in the scenic yet spooky locales of Rajasthan, the story is about the fearless and passionate Geetanjali (Surbhi Jyoti) and Abhimanyu (Shoaib Ibrahim) who are deeply in love with each other. Both are what we call 'kattar' Rajputs and take their vows rather seriously. Abhimanyu rescues Geetanjali from a well in a desert where she gets a panic attack as she is an asthmatic and afraid of darkness. The duo decides to reveal their relationship to Geetanjali's brother Rishab and go to the former's haveli.

Rishab (Sharad Kelkar) is a blind man but his sense of hearing and touch impresses Abhimanyu. However, Rishab decides that Abhimanyu is not the right suitor for his sister Geetanjali as he does not match the lifestyle of Geetanjali. Rishab also makes Abhimanyu promise to not go after Geetanjali henceforth. But Geetanjali decides to leave her family and fortune and chooses Abhimanyu and they get married. During the marriage, the diya that Geetanjali lights goes off (red flag no.1), but Abhimanyu secretly lights it back.

Rishab gets to know of their marriage and after a very dramatic confrontation, he accepts Abhimanyu and Geetanjali's marriage. The couple consummates their marriage and Abhimanyu gifts Geetanjali a pair of payal. He tells her that she should never take them off as they are directly connected to his life (yeh payal kabhi mat utarna Geetanjali, Jab tak tumhare kadmon mein sanget hai, mere dil mein dhadkan hai). Abhimanyu has to report for duty the very next day and leaves but his jeep does not start (red flag no.2) He then takes Geetanjali's car. As he leaves, suddenly the bright sunny day turns cloudy (red flag no.4) and this upsets Geetanjali even more.

The haveli's light goes off and Geetanjali, who is already worried about Abhimanyu's delay in return, panics even more and falls down. That is when one of her payal comes off and she gets a panic attack. At that precise moment, she receives a call informing her of Abhimanyu's car accident and she faints. Geetanjali in a state of shock, refuses to believe that Abhimanyu is dead and she hears Abhimanyu everywhere. On the other hand, someone gets into the haveli and holds Rishab at gunpoint and Rishab assumes that man to be Abhimanyu.

Six years have passed by but Geetanjali is still awaiting Abhimanyu's return. But her friend Rajveer Malhotra shows up with the bad news that the Army has shut down Abhimanyu's file and declared him dead. Rishab, according to family tradition adds a clock to his already huge collection in the name of Abhimanyu and that's when it sinks for Geetanjali, that Abhimanyu is not coming back ever. In the midst of all this, we see Geetanjali's cousin Kavya (Srijeeta De) and her tumultuous relationship with her mother Ratna (Nivedita Bhattacharya) as she feels that her mother gives more attention to Geetanjali.

That night when the clock strikes twelve, Rishab gets up to go to bed. But one of the clocks rings late and it turns out to be Abhimanyu's. That is when Chanda (Ekroop Bedi) tells Rishab that Abhimanyu's aatma is lurking in this house. But Rishab dismisses her. The next day, there is a pooja going on in the temple when Geetanjali again hears Abhimanyu's voice and goes to the well from where Abhimanyu had once rescued her. She then convinces herself that she has to let go off Abhimanyu and come to face that he is no more and his existence is a myth of her imagination.  

What Clicked:

The show is set in Rajasthan and the makers have maintained the essence of it. The show visually appeals to us.

It is a well-known fact that the show is a thriller. But what impressed us as soon as the episode started is that the makers and actors have kept their promise of keeping the audience on their toes with the guessing game. Every actor, at some point in the episode gives us a glimpse of his/her grey shade.

Sharad totally ruled the first episode as he got his blind man game bang on. The precision with which he enacts his character of a blind man has us standing up and clapping.

Shoaib and Surbhi look very good together and have a certain screen presence about themselves, that is rare to see among fresh pairings. Here's another hit pairing to watch out for.

Every actor's wardrobe has been detailed according to their character and this can be seen throughout in the episodes. Whether it's Rishab's strict demeanor that requires Sharad to wear dark colors or Geetanjali's fun loving attitude that is well expressed through a wardrobe full of lively colors.  

What Disappointed:

Surbhi and Shoaib play two passionate lovers, but probably the fast pace of the story did not allow them to ace their act. No, we are not denying that they do not have chemistry. But what we felt was that they could have underplayed their characters a little bit and that would have been absolutely perfect.

Surbhi does better justice to her part while portraying intense and serious look, as compared to her playing the happy-go-lucky chirpy self. 

The makers have literally rushed into the story. The story being fast paced is one thing and the story being rushed is another. And here is the second scenario. We agree it's a 52 episode finite series, but at least the makers should have given enough space to the audience to let the characters and the plot sink in a bit. In the first episode itself, the audience saw Geetanjali and Abhimanyu's love story culminate into marriage after beating all odds and this had not even sunk in and they were treated to the news of Abhimanyu's death.

And by rush we mean the makers were in so much hurry that some scenes just did not connect or make sense to us. 

Verdict:

The promos of the show raised the bar high, but the first episode certainly did not match up to our expectations. But as we mentioned above, every character in the show has a grey shade and plays his/her part to perfection, that's what we would look forward to. Also, Surbhi has a lot riding on her shoulders and we sincerely hope she wouldn't disappoint.

Ratings: 3 stars (***)