Sharib Hashmi and Anupriya Goenka's 'Khoj' web-series review: This terrible thriller is instantly forgettable and frustrating

Cast: Sharib Hashmi, Anupriya Goenka

Director: Prabal Baruah

Language: Hindi

The year was 1989 when Rishi Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah came together for a film called Khoj. It was the story of a man whose wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances and the thriller filmed his helplessness and horror as a mysterious lady masqueraded as his better half. It remains an underrated and largely unnoticed whodunnit that messed up the climax. 35 years later, Sharib Hashmi and Anupriya Goenka come together for a film called Khoj. It’s the story of a man whose wife has disappeared under mysterious circumstances and the thriller films his helplessness and horror as a mysterious lady masquerades as his better half.

Hashmi and Goenka are fine actors with better scripts and on better days but this utterly forgettable and frivolous thriller gives them no opportunity to shine through the mundane narrative. The film, which is now streaming on ZEE5, feels like an athlete’s cheat day. After weeks and months of rigorous diet, the joy of eating something totally unhealthy can be instantly gratifying. For these two actors, it’s that very cheat day but with totally opposite reactions. Never before has a suspect, a victim, and an investigator looked this disinterested and confused.

Even the middling monikers are able to suck you in the landscape they are based in, but Khoj keeps finding its feet in technically all the departments. The biggest bummer here is how you can predict nearly everything that’s going to unfold. It’s only 140 minutes long so it has no reason to exist as a web series and end its episodes on cringe cliffhangers. Just before the final episode, I shuddered with the thought there would be a season two, but all the cards were played right here. So that’s the only time this preposterous thriller surprised me and that too in good ways.

Rating: 1.5 (out of 5 stars)

Khoj is now streaming on Zee5