Sorry, I cannot respect a series where one of the songs playing in the background counsels, “Kachcha kachcha aam hai, todna haram hai.” Yuck! Reminds me of a veteran actor’s recent statement on a “dudhiya” actress. Bhagwat Chapter 1—Raakshas tries to give off the impression that it cares deeply for victims of human trafficking. But the writing is so by-the-numbers, it feels exploitative. The location is a UP town named Robertsganj (although at one point, I distinctly heard someone calling out the location Jamnagar), where nineteen girls were sold between 2005 and 2009.
The series attempts to shock us through statistics, but fails to grasp the gore beyond the gasp. The treatment of the serial killer’s modus operandi is all exclamation marks with characters constantly reminding of how vicious, ruthless and irrelevant all the killings are. There is a roadside dhaba sequence in which the serial killer, feasting on dal-gosht, narrates a detailed version of one of his murders.
This reminded me of Vikrant Massey’s serial-killing confession to cop Deepak Dobriyal in Sector 36. That moment between unapologetic crime and the hapless law was chilling. Nothing about the gruesome killings in Bhagwat Chapter 1 is chilling.
It all feels shallow, sleazy and gratuitous. Till the end, I was wondering why so many women would fall for the creepy killer Rajkumar Siritiya, who has neither the charm nor the persuasive personality of Vikrant Massey in Sector 36 or Jeffrey Dahmer in Monster: The Ed Gaine Story.
Lines like, “While we were worried for our daughter’s safety, she was celebrating her suhaagraat without marriage,” which are meant to highlight the woeful plight of the missing girls’ relatives, sound so cheesy, you wonder if the series really cares about anything except providing cheap thrills.
The suspects pile up like deadwood in a timber factory. Director Akshay Shere clutters the narrative with red herrings. Suspects are rounded up and interrogated brutally by a cop who has anger-management issues, when anyone can see the suspects are not the actual perpetrators. Who enjoys the torture, the cop or those who wrote his character? Arshad Warsi as ACP Vishwas Bhagwat is gruff and sullen, as though the actor was wondering why he agreed to be part of a series which seems to disrespect all aesthetic considerations. The actors look like they could do with a break.
The locations are self-consciously dingy to remind us that crime is engendered in hostile environments. This is not really true. Some of the most notorious serial killers have emerged from posh locations. The world of Bhagwat is offensive and tacky. The suggestion that this is a series is not welcome. Chapter 2 will just have to wait its turn.
