When it gets to its silly climax where the dots are finally joined, you can't help but see how cheap these thrills are, sighs Mayur Sanap.
One murder, many suspects. Is there any novelty left with this template? In the OTT space, this plotline pretty much feels like same series, constantly repackaged.
Director Vishal Furia's 36 Days, which is the Indian adaptation of the UK show 35 Days (the extra day in this Hindi rendition only adds to the boredom), does not know any better.
The show packs multiple sub-plots bound together by a mysterious killing that sets the chain of events as it unravels the lives of its principal characters.
Farah (Neha Sharma) is an attractive woman, who enters as a tenant in Tony's (Chandan Roy Sanyal) swanky house in Goa and becomes the hot topic in her neighbourhood.
Tony is a lecherous man who is married for the third time. He treats Siya (Chahat Vig) as his trophy wife.
Rishi (Purab Kohli) is a successful author in a worn-out marriage with Radhika (Shruti Sheth) but they pretend to be the perfect couple in their social circle.
Lalita (Amruta Khanvilkar) is a money-hungry housewife who supports her lavish lifestyle through illicit businesses, much to dismay of her meek husband Vinod (Sharib Hashmi).
Binny (Shernaz Patel) is a home baker dealing with the loss of her young daughter. She looks after her frail husband Denzil (Kenneth Desai) and therapy-seeking son (Faishal Rashid), both dependants on her for support.
The plot unfolds on an intriguing note, starting with the murder of a key character and then reversing to the previous 36 days and moving ahead to the crime scene we see at the beginning.
Director Furia, working on a story adapted by Anahata Menon, steers these initial portions with the necessary suspense and intrigue.
But the novelty wears off by episode three (of the total eight) and it starts to feel gimmicky with disconnected clues as the show never manages to unite its ideas.
With each episode spaced out at between 30 and 40 minutes, there is rarely a moment that produces nail-biting tension or the feeling of having seen something truly surprising.
The already overly familiar scenario is then carried out by underdeveloped characters and sloppy narrative twists. The shock value of the central mystery is threadbare and it plays too many games with the viewer's sensibilities without laying out an equitable payoff.
The performances are as artificial as they are forgettable.
In her mysterious woman act, Neha Sharma struggles to emote in performance-heavy scenes.
Purab Kohli seems like he is playing a version of his role from Out of Love and doesn't leave any impression.
The standout performances, if I must pick, come from Chandan Roy Sanyal and Amruta Khanvilkar, who move along with sufficient spark to make their wishy-washy characters work.
For a mystery drama, it's a shame that the show moves at a sluggish pace.
When it gets to its silly climax where the dots are finally joined, you can't help but see how cheap these thrills are.
36 Days streams on SonyLIV.
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