I’m disappointed with Yudh. Six episodes into the 20-part series and I’m borderline bored. It’s slow, it’s dull, it’s dark, it plods all over the place, takes itself too seriously and has a storyline that wanders around like drunks lost on a bar trail.
Here are three five specific issues that aren’t working for me:
1. Big B – He’s present in every frame and all he’s doing is heaving, sighing, shouting, throwing things around or generally staring into the camera. When he’s not doing all of that he whispers things. And people whisper back at him as the camera goes into yet another close-up. The Big B is too small for the small screen. He works better as a game-show host where he’s the only star and there’s no script. I’m guessing the makers of Yudh were overwhelmed by the burden of getting India’s biggest movie star into a TV series.
2. Complicated Plot – There are multiple plots and multiple characters. This shouldn’t have been a problem considering it’s a 20-episode series with each episode lasting an hour. But the handling is shoddy, chaotic and needlessly complicated. Even the son of the second doctor to the main doctor who is handling Yuddh has a story. As does the roommate of the secretary to Yudh. At some point of time, these plots will have to be closed. One option is to kill off characters as we saw this week. That’s just plain abrupt and messes the story line.
3. Pacing – This serial is seriously slow. Six episodes down and the story hasn’t progressed much. We still don’t know who is waging a war against Yudh. Hospitals are blown to bits, people are getting whacked…but wait, we don’t know who is ordering these hits. Sure, it takes time to establish plot and characters and the audience needs to be invested in them. But if the story moves at the pace of a retiree taking a leisurely morning walk then I’m running out of this park.
Great TV serials can be slow. They can have many characters and intense storylines. Does anyone even remember Powder? It also aired on Sony TV four years ago and – in my opinion – was absolutely brilliant. It was also very slow and a complex plot. But everything worked in that show because the story remained focused and the characters were etched deeper. The series drew you in and kept you there.
But Powder bombed and went off air soon. Obviously, Yudh won’t face the same fate. It’s got too much star power and money backing it to bomb. Besides, we live in different times now. We’ve ventured into the Indian version of 24 and will soon see Indian versions of other crime series like The Killing.
I would love to be proven wrong on Yudh. The series isn’t even half-way through and I’m quite sure the makers will move up the pace. But I don’t know if people will remain patient till then. I don’t know how well it’s doing or what its ratings are so far. The Indian 24 didn’t do particularly well.
So, it’s important that Yudh succeeds and paves the way for much-needed, original, new content for Indian television. But if studios and producers get fascinated with big stars and weak stories then we’re already losing the Yudh.
Here are three five specific issues that aren’t working for me:
1. Big B – He’s present in every frame and all he’s doing is heaving, sighing, shouting, throwing things around or generally staring into the camera. When he’s not doing all of that he whispers things. And people whisper back at him as the camera goes into yet another close-up. The Big B is too small for the small screen. He works better as a game-show host where he’s the only star and there’s no script. I’m guessing the makers of Yudh were overwhelmed by the burden of getting India’s biggest movie star into a TV series.
2. Complicated Plot – There are multiple plots and multiple characters. This shouldn’t have been a problem considering it’s a 20-episode series with each episode lasting an hour. But the handling is shoddy, chaotic and needlessly complicated. Even the son of the second doctor to the main doctor who is handling Yuddh has a story. As does the roommate of the secretary to Yudh. At some point of time, these plots will have to be closed. One option is to kill off characters as we saw this week. That’s just plain abrupt and messes the story line.
3. Pacing – This serial is seriously slow. Six episodes down and the story hasn’t progressed much. We still don’t know who is waging a war against Yudh. Hospitals are blown to bits, people are getting whacked…but wait, we don’t know who is ordering these hits. Sure, it takes time to establish plot and characters and the audience needs to be invested in them. But if the story moves at the pace of a retiree taking a leisurely morning walk then I’m running out of this park.
Great TV serials can be slow. They can have many characters and intense storylines. Does anyone even remember Powder? It also aired on Sony TV four years ago and – in my opinion – was absolutely brilliant. It was also very slow and a complex plot. But everything worked in that show because the story remained focused and the characters were etched deeper. The series drew you in and kept you there.
But Powder bombed and went off air soon. Obviously, Yudh won’t face the same fate. It’s got too much star power and money backing it to bomb. Besides, we live in different times now. We’ve ventured into the Indian version of 24 and will soon see Indian versions of other crime series like The Killing.
I would love to be proven wrong on Yudh. The series isn’t even half-way through and I’m quite sure the makers will move up the pace. But I don’t know if people will remain patient till then. I don’t know how well it’s doing or what its ratings are so far. The Indian 24 didn’t do particularly well.
So, it’s important that Yudh succeeds and paves the way for much-needed, original, new content for Indian television. But if studios and producers get fascinated with big stars and weak stories then we’re already losing the Yudh.
