Home ›› 21 Aug 2022 ›› Show Biz
A mysterious prisoner, out of nowhere, appears in cell number 145 of a jail. It takes everyone aback, given the fact that the cell remained shut and empty for five long decades.
But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Things become even more enthralling when the seemingly deaf and dumb prisoner starts claiming in Farsi writing and a strange sign language that he has been taken captive in different jails for the last 250 years, for he was said to be the murderer to take the life of Mir Jafar.
Now, what will be done with this man — wearing a thick, sweat-inducing, battered uniform — by the jailer and other people surrounding him, who are already stuck in their miseries or misdeeds?
This storyline runs ahead of the new Hoichoi original series Karagar Part 1, which has the acting powerhouses Chanchal Chowdhury and Intekhab Dinar in the lead, with Taqdeer-famed Syed Ahmed Shawki at the helm.
But it must be mentioned right away that the person to be credited for the story, screenplay, and dialogues is Neamoth Ullah Masum, also the co-writer of Taqdeer.
There were four more writers, namely Shuhan Rizwan, Siddiq Ahamed, Rasheduzzan Rakib (RnaR), and the director himself, to have had some kind of contribution to the additional screenplay, with the writer-in-chief once again playing the role of the script supervisor.
This is a very noteworthy feature of Karagar Part 1, for it looks like writing for once has been given the topmost priority leading up to the making of the series. And thus, the story presented on the screen seems to be very well-organised from the word go.
Most series on Hoichoi, or most ‘deshi’ OTT platforms for that matter, have the similar characteristic of trying too hard to excite the audiences with murder or some other big crime in the very first episode, so that it becomes clear to all and sundry how straightforward and face-paced their creation is.
But Karagar Part 1 is a welcome change from that cliché. It does not bow down to the usual tropes of ‘traditional’ web series but rather attempts to make a narrative style of its own.
The writers were well aware of the fact that they have a very good story at hand, and hence, they did not rush to throw up everything at once. They took their due time, provided the key characters with some space to breathe, constructed a proper setting, introduced the audiences to the backdrop the story is against, and only then did they go for the fire.
So linear is the storytelling that there was not even a single flashback in the entire series, except for a video clip of sorts. The story always seems to be moving forward, even if in uttermost indolence. Only a skillfully woven screenplay, like the one Karagar Part 1 has, can still succeed in delivering the goods to perfection.
Hopefully, this series will also be able to bring into everyone’s realisation as to how important it is to invest in writing, instead of spending all the time, money, and energy of the world behind star power.
Talking of star power, there was no dearth of such thing in Karagar Part 1, as the ensemble cast of the series also featured Afzal Hossain, Jayanta Chattopadhyay, F S Nayeem, Tasnia Farin, A K Azad Shetu, and Bijori Barkatullah in titular roles.
Even if someone does not find the story, screenplay, and dialogues of the series engrossing, they can still give it a go, provided they are fond of good acting. Karagar Part 1 can be termed as the best of all the best combined, simply on account of acting. There was hardly any instance of average acting on show throughout the series. Each and everyone pulled off a measured and balanced performance, even when there were chances of things going over the top.
Chanchal Chowdhury did not get to talk (or did he?) in the series, and had to do the heavy lifting with his eyes, facial expressions, body movements, and of course, the sign language. Still, he nailed it. With some honest assistance from make-up artist Atia Rahman and costume designer Farzana Sun, he flawlessly got into the skin of his character, and not for once did he look out of it.
So did Intekhab Dinar as well. He is such a talent for whom no praise is enough. It is great to see the artist nowadays getting to play one strong character after another. Interestingly, the strength of his character in this series lies in its vulnerability despite being the ‘boro shaheb’ of a jail. And Dinar drew dollars and cents with his top-notch performance.
F S Nayeem was another pleasant surprise of Karagar Part 1, and so was Bijori Barkatullah. While the former made the best of the opportunities handed over to him, the same cannot be said of the latter, for hers was a character that seemed to be the most trifling of the lot, and she had nothing to do about it.
Tasnia Farin looked extraordinarily beautiful in this series, despite donning a very simple and casual look. But the appearance was not the only thing she had to offer. She was cast in a very important role — an interpreter, or the medium between the mysterious prisoner and “the rest of the world”. She was equally good in playing that character, which also had its demons to fight as well as to find out a father everyone claims dead.
A K Azad Shetu too did well. He is perfect for the role he wore in Karagar Part 1, while it is also a fact that he had been seen in such parts many a time before. Hence, nothing in his acting here seemed new, but that barely was owing to his fault.
Afzal Hossain’s character was very interesting. The series kickstarts with a scene involving this heavyweight actor, and some of the greatest lines of the whole series were also delivered by him. It looks like he has bigger shots to play in the next season, and so in Karagar Part 2, he will be the one to watch out for. We will have to keep an eye open for Jayanta Chattopadhyay as well. But as far as the opening season is concerned, both his performance as well as his character were rather underwhelming.
Now, let’s go back to the other storytelling tools of the series.
Honestly, there was no spark in the dialogues, as the writers made a conscious effort not to let this one become a festival of one-liners — a compliment that can be aptly rained upon any Srijit Mukherjee flick, or even a ‘Kaiser’ from last month. The attempt was always there to keep the conversations as grounded as possible. Still, some better dialogues on occasions could be given to the actors to spill out.
However, the absence of mouthwatering dialogues was compensated by the magnificent background scores. In some films, the camera does the talking, but here in Karagar Part 1, the credit goes to the background scores. Music director Ruslan Rehman, sound designer and mixer, Adeep Singh Manki, and Anindit Roy deserve a round of applause for that.
Editing by Saleh Sobhan Auneem was decent, but not anywhere near the best. Even a perfect slow-burner needs good editing. Some sequences of this series were unnecessarily long, and they could have been easily trimmed to give the series a much tight-knit look.
Syed Ahmed Shawki, the captain of the ship, made the first installment of the series with great care. Many became his admirer after seeing Taqdeer, but personally, I still had some doubt, chiefly in concern with whether Taqdeer was just a false dawn.
But Karagar’s Shawki is most definitely stronger and sharper, if not taller, as a director. He gave the subject matter at hand a good treatment. Most importantly, he did not lose track by forcing some nonsense “entertaining elements” into the narrative. He kept it plain and simple, yet held on to the feelings of “What is going to happen next” alive all over the season.
A section of the audience will presumably be disappointed at the end of Karagar Part 1, and their reaction is completely justified. It cannot be denied that the first part of the season of Karagar has not progressed much, storywise. What we have got here was mostly in the trailer as well. The people who have paid a good amount of money out of their pocket to get hold of a great story have all the rights to bash the creators.
But if one looks closely, it is evident that this season was completely dedicated to story development. Everything will start to unfold from the next season. So, even if the first season had not finished on a cliffhanger, the second season would have become a much-awaited outing for curious viewers.
Now we can only hope Hoichoi is not planning to keep us waiting for a long time, and Karagar Part 2 is ‘coming soon’, literally.
