1000 Babies (Disney Hotstar) Review..!!
1000 Babies is that rare Malayalam series that can pique the interest of the viewers with the premise itself. It is a mystery thriller that starts with the confession of an elderly woman Sara, played by Neena Gupta. Rahman plays the role of a cop, C.I. Aji Kurian, who is on a quest to solve this complex premise. Kerala Crime Files worked to a great extent in this genre and this new series also has life in it to keep the viewers hooked to the plot. This 7-episode series is directed and co-written by Najeem Koya and produced by August Cinema. This is a spoiler free review.
The story begins in 2010, where we are introduced to a mysteriously discreet Sarah, who is shown scribbling on her wall. She is spooky and frantically screams at times. Moreover, the makers have used graphical representation of her imaginary world or hallucinations. By this time, we might get a faint idea about these uncanny episodes but you have to wait till the 3rd episode to hear it from the horse’s mouth. The makers have taken so much time to set up the premise, which is probably the trickiest part in the series. At first, a shocking revelation is made in the form of a confession note that drives the plot further. But this is not directly revealed to the audience, instead we see different characters, who are visibly upset after reading the confession note. This gets repeated a few times. Maybe the makers wanted to arouse the curiosity but the repeat staging was going overboard. But this exaggeration seemed like an overkill and the dialogues were also frequent. Despite these stretched episodes, whole setup was strong enough to keep the audience immersed.
The series is primarily an investigation thriller, following the mystery revelation. But, the first 3 episodes have the advantage of concealing the mystery element. It isn’t entirely unpredictable but unveiling the mystery is far more impactful than anticipated. It intensifies the plot further since the audience would then be aware of the possible chaos & consequences after the revelation. So, the protagonist, CI Aji Kurian, is tied to the mystery and is set out to nab a killer and thereby, put an end to a bigger conspiracy. As mentioned earlier, the biggest drawback of the series is its stretched screenplay. After the first 3 episodes, once the series progresses through the typical murder investigation and crime resolving process, the proceedings are plain and simple. There is too much focus on a set of events that gets dragged, going case by case, only to slow down the crucial final moments. If these extended scenes are to explore the antagonist character, then the whole effort gets wasted in the finale. They could have trimmed down a couple of episodes and added more complexities to the crime solving process. Instead, the investigation ends up as a total deception by the antagonist and this is highly predictable.
The intention of the makers to use cuss words to make the episodes more realistic, partially succeeded. But in most cases, the dialogues sound so dramatic, artificial and recurring at times. The performance from a few characters and their dialogue deliveries felt weird at times. Also, lip sync of major characters is also worrying. This is evident with Neena Gupta’s character Sara. The makers should have taken due care while dubbing for the character. This affects her performance as well. A talented artist like her does not have enough screen time. It is even bizarre that she gets replaced by another actor to play Sara’s younger version. Eventually, almost all the characters are shallow apart from Rahman’s protagonist, but his Malayalam dubbing is weak. The police characters are also out of place and they do no serve any purpose. Their addition in the climax sequence appears to be so lazy and convenient. How can the investigation team or their superiors easily forget the fact that there are multiple people working behind the murders and that taking down the antagonist is not the solution.? It is so silly to imagine that they believed so.
But the biggest issue with the series is the disturbing portrayal of pseudo-scientific & regressive ideas. It is more or less deliberate since 3 episodes of the series create an impression that a child’s character gets decided by the parental genes. This is totally uncalled for in this era. Seems like the makers wanted to reason with the killings but it is hard to believe that they lacked any options. They have devoted individual episodes for each of the killings and despite that, it is strange to arrive at such a delusional output. There are numerous possibilities to address the murders without showing two extreme sides of people. They haven’t considered the fact of abusive parents while raising the children or a person’s choices as an adult. Even if the makers argue otherwise, the whole idea is regressive in the plain sight.
Despite many engaging moments, 1000 Babies is aimless & troubled by an agenda driven narration.