‘Daldal’ series review: An emotionally exhausting slog

A tale of damaged people caught in a psychological swamp, Daldal is a thriller that is more keen on uncovering the motivations behind the crime than on who committed it. The plot follows DCP Rita Ferreira (Bhumi Pednekar) investigating a series of gruesome murders while confronting her guilt-ridden past and a patriarchal system that projects committed female police officers as mere showpieces.

It promises a taut cat-and-mouse dynamic with personal stakes, but its engagement with issues like gender, mental health, and systemic decay proves more superficial than meaningful. It is a kind of creative enterprise that tries hard to be hard-hitting than it actually is, that mistakes prolonged misery for depth.

When Rita solves a complex case of child trafficking, she is promoted as the youngest female DCP in the bustling metropolis. While the promotion irks her male colleagues, the case wins her the ire of a serial killer who is also struggling to cope with a painful past. The series looks into how the orphanages, the shelter homes that are meant to protect innocence, become centres of exploitation, breeding discontent and contempt for society and the system in young minds.

Series creator Suresh Triveni and director Amrit Raj Gupta create a quietly unsettling atmosphere with haunting visuals, tense background score, and bloody imagery, ticking all the boxes for a binge-worthy experience for thriller junkies. But the addicts have consumed so much of this designer dope that they have become desensitised to the regular dose.

As writers take the frequently travelled road on OTT platforms these days, a sense of sameness sets in. The series is based on Vish Dhamija’s bestseller, Bhendi Bazaar, which became a rage in pulp publishing when it was published in 2019.

Since then, the glass ceiling for female representation in police procedurals has been broken monthly. Delhi Crime is streaming in living rooms, and Mardani is running in theatres. The surprise value of female actors playing the protagonist, the antagonist, and the supporting role has gradually dissipated.

To compensate, the makers seem to be in a race to outdo competitors on the gore quotient and information density. When the camera stays and returns to faces choked with chocolate, chicken, etc., the craft is reduced to a gimmick, a modus operandi in which the emotional resonance feels manufactured to generate jitters.

Rather than innovating in the characters’ psychology, it leans on clichés. The interplay between crime solving and psychological introspection becomes increasingly predictable as the series progresses.

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Bhumi Pednekar sheds the reporter’s garb in Bhakshak (2024) to don the uniform and the haunted-cop archetype. In an author-backed role of a girl grappling with self-doubt, Bhumi is suitably stoic and tries to blend vulnerability with quiet determination, but her effort to appear grim and grounded results in emotional inertness. As the androgynous antagonist, Samara Tijori generates dread and empathy in turn, but she lacks the physicality the role demands, and eventually, the character arc makes her performance one-dimensional.

Geeta Agrawal and Aditya Rawal show how to address gaps in writing and predictability in character progression. As the devoted subordinate of Rita, Geeta lights up the proceedings, and Aditya’s eyes reflect the truthful pain and anguish that otherwise remain buried in the dense narrative.

Daldal is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.