Ghoul, another Netflix original from India, is also a potent political satire.
Ghoul
Cast: Radhika Apte, Manav Kaul
Director: Patrick Graham
A bit of The Conjuring and a tinge of Insidious, Ghoul has things that you have seen before, but it still entices you, lures into an eerie world and leaves you speechless.
As audience, we are habitual of watching disfigured ghosts and half-burnt witches, thanks to Ramsay Brothers. Even Vikram Bhatt didn’t explore much beyond it. His ghosts preferred traditional Indian clothes, but were very basic in nature.
Ghoul is very different in this regard as it focuses more on symbols than action. In the show, an authoritarian regime is hell bent on redefining the term ‘terrorism’. There is a defined syllabus and anything beyond it is considered anti-national.
Nida Rahim (Radhika Apte) works with the Special Investigation Team and is responsible for foiling the terrorist activities. She doesn’t even spare her own professor father in the line of duty.
She gets posted on a secret military interrogation center where she meets military chief Rahul Dacuna. After a day of Nida’s posting, the unit receives a special prisoner – Ali Saeed (Mahesh Balraj). He is about to be interrogated, but the only catch is that Ali is not human. He is a ghoul!
More than a horror series, Ghoul is a satire on the current state of proceedings. From mob lynching to defining nationalism, it raises many pertinent questions. The beauty of it is that it doesn’t take names. The puns are not complicated either, so everyone will get it.
Director Patrick Graham is completely in charge of the situation, but one can easily see Vikramaditya Motwane’s impression on Ghoul.
Radhika Apte is present in almost every frame and that may irritate you after a while. She is right on money though.
Manav Kaul’s military chief is quiet, humble and introvert, and that’s what creates the magic. A military personnel with a different outlook adds freshness to the story.
Ghoul’s Surprise packages are Mahesh Balraj and Ratna Bali Bhattacharjee. Platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime have given a lease of life to these actors.
Ghoul might not be the best horror series around, but this is definitely an innovative one. Despite predictability, this demands your attention.
Rating: 3.5/5