GHOUL - NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES

Ghoul is a Netflix Original mini series directed by Patrick Graham. It is the first horror venture of Netflix in India after its successful Sacred Games & Lust stories. It consists of three episodes of around 45 mins each and is available in Hindi (original language), English, Tamil and Telugu.

The series is set in a future dystopian world reeling under military rule. Sectarian violence is rampant. Minorities are looked down upon. Free thinking is curbed. Books, even nursery rhymes and children literature are banned. Everything is taught according to the ‘syllabus’ prescribed by the government. Anyone who does not conform is branded as anti-nationalist and terrorist. They are captured and reconditioned to be ideal citizens and are killed if they do not conform to the system.

Nadia Rahim (Radhika Apte), a trainee at the National Protection Squad Academy specializing in advanced interrogation, is a product of the system. She aides in the capture of her father, a professor and one of the intellectuals who opposes the atrocities of the state. He is promptly branded a terrorist and sent for reconditioning. The ensuing investigation leads to surfacing of some secrets essential to national security and Nadia is stepped out of her training and sent to Advanced Interrogation Centre Meghdoot 31 under the command of Lt Col Sunil Dacunha (Manav Kaul) to aid in the investigation. There she is looked at with suspicion by fellow officers. Meanwhile a prisoner Ali Saeed (Mahesh Balraj) arrives at the centre. Saeed is the leader of the ‘terrorists ‘and hence a high priority subject. The officers start the interrogation of Saeed unaware that what they have brought with them is much more than human. Slowly it starts feeding on their fears and insecurities. In the final act there is much gore and blood fest as secrets come tumbling one after the other out of the closet.

Ghoul works at more than one level. It is powered by the terrific performance of its cast and crew. After her performances in the Sacred Games and Lust Stories Radhika Apte once again delivers a brilliant performance as the multi layered Nadia Rahim. The cinematography and the background score adds to the bleakness, the claustrophobia, the horror of the scene. There are enough jump scares to keep the audience on tenterhooks. But what works most is its multi layered narrative. It is much more than a ‘Ghost Story ‘. It is commentary on the insecurities, the fear of the minorities, the lies told, the atrocities committed under a Fascist regime and the eventual reaction, the revolution. The Ghoul is the Fascist regime preying on the minds of the people, devouring them and leaving a trail of destruction and bloodshed in its wake.

For the millennials who have been raised with a liberal dose of Aahat and Zee Horror Show, Ghoul is a refreshing change. Kudos to Netflix for bringing horror television in India up to the international standards.

MORIARTY - BY ANTHONY HOROWITZ

Moriarty is second book in the series of pastiches written by Anthony Horowitz who has been authorized by Conan Doyle’s estate to carry forward the legacy of the phenomenon that is Sherlock Holmes. The first book The House of Silk which came out in 2011 brilliantly captures the essence of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works and presents to us a sombre, dark and gloomy picture of the Victorian London. Moriarty the second book in the series is bolder in its scope and treatment.

Moriarty is essentially a Holmes novel but lacks its two central characters - Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson. Their places have been taken by Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard (who is first intoduced in Doyle’s The Sign of Four), and Frederick Chase, an agent of American detective agency Pinkerton. The story fills the void between 1891 after Holmes’s disappearance in The Final Problem and his reappearance in 1894 in The Adventure of the Empty House, the period commonly known as the Great Hiatus.

The events of the novel takes place in 1891 after the episode of the Reichenbach Falls as described in The Final Problem. Both Holmes and his arch enemy Moriarty are supposedly dead after falling from the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland while fighting each other. A dead corpse resembling Moriarty is fished out of the Reichenbach Brook. Inspector Athelney Jones who is investigating the matter meets Frederick Chase and together they start investigating.  From Chase Jones learns of the existence of a master criminal from America named Clarence Devereux who is ready to take over the underworld of London after Moriarty’s death. What follows is a series of gruesome murders and much blood is spilled on the streets of London.

Moriarty has all the elements of a Holmes novel. Macabre scenes of murder, disguises, honest thieves and red herrings are there in abundance. Athelney Jones is an admirer of Holmes. He has studied Holmes’s works and has modelled his investigating techniques on the techniques employed by the great detective. But he is no Sherlock Holmes. Frederick Chase here plays the part of Dr. Watson. Much of the interest in Holmes’s stories is generated by the relation between Holmes and Watson. The chemistry between Jones and Chase does not quite match up to that between Holmes and Watson. Like The House of Silk Horowitz here exposes the dark underbelly of the Victorian London. The atmosphere here is darker and the murders more gory but the story never quite reaches the heights attained by the The House Of Silk which is a more polished work of art. The final twist which though unexpected has no novelty about it. Overall it is a good novel and is recommended for the Holmes aficionados.

P.S - The short story The Three Monarchs which is attached to the end of the novel is more in the Sherlockian mould and is a delight for the fans of the Holmes.