Yeh Kaali kaali aankhen - drama series review

 I thought i had mentioned about this series when the first season went live but apparently haven't. This series on Netflix has an interesting premise of a lady stalker who is after her guy and even manages to marry him, only to find herself in a terrible situation at the end of season 1, which was a cliffhanger of sorts leading into the next season. We've seen innumerable number of stories where, typically it is the guy who does all these - chasing behind his childhood crush, despite knowing she has set her heart on someone else, terrorizing the boy friend and his family into submission, with the girl's dad conveniently in the employment of the stalker guy and giving into his adamant demands, his all powerful and otherwise ruthless dad ensures the marriage happens, all this while the lady in pursuit conniving with her boy friend on how to escape the clutches of her maniacal lover, eventually getting married and in some cases, even settling into a domestic arrangement with her "kal aanalum kanavan" and even praying for his well being. The only twist in this series being the lady is replaced by a guy and the stalker character, as mentioned, is another girl, who doesn't just interfere into the love life of the hero, but goes all out in getting married to him. The dad of the stalker girl being a terror politician with entire government machinery in his pockets, its anyone's guess as to how easy he gets his daughter's wish fulfilled. There is this mandatory "brother" character who despises the guy and chides his sister for falling for such an unworthy character, yet remains loyal to her and supports her. The other major twist being, the guy goes to every extent possible to get out of the wedlock and reunite with his original love, where he hires a goon on darknet, by paying supari in bitcoins (you read it right!) and at the season finale, arranges for his adamant wife to be killed. The twist comes in the form of the contract killer, who recognizes the girl and kidnaps her instead of killing her, asking for more money from the guy which sets up the premise for season 2. Season 2 is all about how the girl escapes from her captors and in the end how she gets to know the real hand behind all those events forms the crux of it. 

All throughout the series, there is a sense of panic and palpitation which is maintained by the hero, who portrays himself as vulnerable and left with no choice even while plotting for the death of his wife. The lady character who chases behind him and gets married to him, she is fantastic in her portrayal of love stuck girl at the same time, understanding the power that comes from her family. She is effortless in transforming into both the shades and her presence definitely drives a sense of fear. Rest of the cast, including the other girl in this love triangle, the families, all fill themselves up appropriately.  The adamant girl's father, played by "kallu maama" from Sathya, is another fantastic actor, who can turn his rolly polly physique into comic as well as coming out menacing. I felt the second season was more lavish and had been picturised like a movie across fantastic locales, at the cost of story line which appeared focused only around the kidnap aspect as against the first part which was quite thrilling. It is more violent than first half with lot of gore and posssibly the next season which could be the final one, if at all it gets made, will let us know whom the hero character is fighting against, as shown at the beginning of the series. 

There are no good guys in the entire story line and its not even borderline grey but outright dark for every character sketched in the series. Not even an iota of goodness across any of them with the only positive aspects being a comparative case study of how one is less bad than the other. One may feel to root for the hero in first season but his cold bloodedness in second half makes me wonder how far they will go in next season!! A racy series nevertheless and ensures a thrill ride.