Entertainment Review: Aakhri Sach

The gruesome deaths of 11 members of a family, ages ranging from nine to 71, that came to be known as the Burari Case, was a shocker at a time when most people are desensitied to news of violent crimes.

All but one were found hanging, bound and gagged  with their faces covered, which shot down the mass suicide angle. But there was no sign of forced entry or physical altercation; besides, as the neighbours said, they were a normal family with no enemies. A daughter had just been engaged and they were planning a new business, there was no easy explanation for the deaths. The case caused an uproar in the media and street protests pushed Delhi police against a wall.

The case has found its way on to the TV screen, through a Crime Patrol episode and Netflix’s true crime documentary, The House Of Secrets. There were as many theories about what might have caused the inexplicable tragedy, as there were baffling clues for the cops to decipher.

Robbie Grewal’s Aakhri Sach, is a fictionalised version of the story from the point of view of the cops investigating the crime.

Leading the case is Anya (Tamannaah Bhatia), whose being a female incharge of such a grisly case is debated on television., and her male colleagues pass snide comments about her ability to solve it. They are just waiting for her to fall flat on her face. Her mother advises her to opt out. Anya may not look tough, but she is tenacious.

As the cops blunder around cluelessly, family enmity, gangsters, romantic drama and even a Chamatkari Baba are chucked in as possible leads. However, a kid and.a mentally disturbed, possibly psychopathic man (Abhishek Banerjee) know more than they are letting on. All this is interspersed with flashbacks and back stories, that look like they are just padding.

Three episodes are on Disney+Hotstar, with a new one dropping every Friday. This strategy works if audiences are so hooked on to a show, that they will wait eagerly for a weekly episode. However, Aakhri Sach does not generate that much curiosity.

All episodes offered to binge watch might have attracted crime show fans, with its morbidity, not many would go back to it when there us a plethora of entertainment options on streaming platforms.