Yudh week 1: Amitabh Bachchan stars in a case of 'what the hell is going on'?

I’ve realised what the inspiration for Yudh is: David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. Dim lighting, indecipherable dialogue and a plot-line so convoluted that everyone who sees it takes away a different meaning from it. Only Mulholland Drive had beautiful people in the cast and it was only two hours long. This is just the fourth episode of Yudh and four hours into it – things aren’t improving. I’ll try to string the plot developments together for you. A shadowy man had informed Yudh of a hospital falling down. Now footage has been found of three people huddled in a corner of the hospital, apparently setting up a bomb, which brought the hospital down. Yudh’s daughter, who was in the hospital that’s been bombed, gets taken to another hospital to treat her injuries. His ex-wife’s current husband — who doesn’t seem to know that Yudh is his daughter’s biological father (Confused? Good, so was I) — sees Yudh there. Daughter and Yudh share a moment the next day; again her non-biological father sees Yudh in the hospital and looks suspicious. [caption id=“attachment_1624241” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Amitabh Bachchan in a still from Yudh. Image courtesy: Yudh Facebook page.[/caption] Meanwhile, Yudh’s other child, the seemingly useless son Rishi, accompanies Yudh to what is supposed to be is a Maoist-infested area. The idea is that Rishi will take over the reins of his mining company. Rishi spends the better part whining about the lack of mobile connectivity and drinks himself into a stupor at night. Maoists, in very well-stitched uniforms, walk around the jungle area and there’s obviously a plot to kill the son (which would be no great loss to the programme). There’s a dusky Maoist girl who’s tracking Rishi with some very burly thugs. It’s nice to note that Maoist women in godforsaken parts of the country are able to take time out from their revolutionary activities to get their eyebrows neatly threaded. What good is fighting for a political cause if you’re not going to look your best while doing so? But that’s not all. Yudh’s evil competitor’s son’s wife is having an affair with another man – whose importance I still haven’t been able to figure out. Then someone sends a video of hers to her husband. He drives home to confront her, only to find his wife shot dead, which leads to him being promptly gets arrested. You’d think the fact that we’ve mostly seen him plotting with the police commissioner (against Yudh) would come in handy at this point. Then a newspaper editor meets Yudh and Yudh doesn’t like his line of questioning, so Yudh roughs him up. Yudh also mentions that there are “hazaar news channels” but only one news item to share between them. And finally, there’s the clown. Who has not only begun speaking from the second episode, but also seems to have grown in height. By the way, Yudh sees the clown in a press conference Yudh is addressing. What does this mean? Is this a subtle way of saying that all journalists are clowns? So with all this swirling around at the end of the first week of Yudh, here are my takeaways: - Yudh has some debilitating disease – which seems like a combination of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia to me. I suspect one of its causes may be constant and unremitting use of a wig. Even while you’re sleeping. - Yudh is a traditional, Indian man. This is why he can go missing for a night but doesn’t need to explain his absence to his wife. Once he turns up, he can simply instruct his wife to make tea for him – and she will do so dutifully. - There’s a disco in Delhi where women wear shorts, boxing gloves and helmets and dance with men. I kid you not. - The clown has better diction than Bachchan. - Yudh’s grumpy wife has high blood pressure levels. Possible cause: trying to figure out the plotline of the show of which she’s part. - Whoever is buying Yudh’s casual off-work hour clothes is doing a damn good job. I haven’t seen such trendy sportswear in a while. - A new news channel called Janhit has made an appearance. -To add an emotional angle, Yudh’s right-hand man is shown as having a son with special needs. Never mind how he spends no time with this son of his. -Yudh’s daughter Taruni speaks to her fish and tries to get them to respond. After four hours of watching Yudh, my only question was – where is Nawazuddin and will he save the day? Someone better.