When Siddharth Malhotra’s Alchemy Productions announced its next venture with a stellar star cast, the excitement was palpable. Roping in Bollywood actor Zayed Khan, TV beauty Nikita Dutta and TV actor Vatsal Sheth, the makers did their best when it came to casting for the series. Touted as the next big thriller on TV, Haasil despite a few niggles, delivers a satisfactory upshot.

The narrative is the same age old revenge story. Aanchal Shrivastava plays a girl by Nikita Dutta who is bound by morals takes a stand against the colossal Raichand Family. It is a settling of scores drama between its three prominent characters Aanchal and the two Raichand brothers - Ranvir and Kabir played by Zayed Khan and Vatsal Sheth respectively. Aanchal goes behind Ranvir, accusing him for the rape and murder of his PA only to be proved wrong by the latter’s younger brother Kabir. 

What happens when the life of the trio is interweaved in the wool of vendetta forms the crux of the story. 

The best part about the daily is the idea of executing it like a film. The opening scene with sparks flying behind Lord Ganesh’s idol although seemed superstitious, looked picturesque on screen. The story despite being age old is served in a new bottle and the new bottle is pretty fancy! 

Out of the three prime cast, Nikita Dutta is the one who outshines for the most part. Aanchal has depth and her nuances give the audience a proper connect to the character. The other interesting aspect of the daily is that regardless of it primarily being a triangle between Zayed, Vatsal and Nikita, the left over ensemble cast has not lost importance. 

The additional members of the show whether it be the Raichands’ or the Srivastava, have been given the same weight, adding much to the main plot.

What doesn’t work for the series is its execution in the first five episodes. While brownie points need to be given to the idea, the execution does take a backfoot. 

Some facets in Haasil make it just like another saas bahu drama.  The fun that takes place in the first few episodes seemed a little forced. Not just that, what became the biggest drawback for such an intriguing thriller, are the jarring edits, which make the series an undulating watch. 

Zayed’s portrayal of Ranveer lacks depth. His looks are jaw dropping though. Vatsal’s Kabir reminds us of his past work in shows like Ek Hasina Thi and Baazigar. His constant playing with a fidget spinner is annoying to another level.  The supplementary flaws in the suspenseful story is the not so good dubbing. The expressions and the dubbing are all over the place at least for the initial episodes and one can easily point them out.

But nonetheless, what makes up for all these shortcomings is that the serial sustains its pace with respect to its plot. In fact, the look of the soap is a la mode and feels like a breath of fresh air amidst naagins, bickering vamps and crappy dark love stories.

Haasil would have given or still can give a strong competition to any international series only if it could have leant a little towards subtlety. If it doesn’t, chances are that it might not click with the youth (the TG audience of the show) who are already binge watching Netflix. Finally, Haasil is a rare creature on TV which is not made every day. It in any case should be given a chance by the audience who is longing to taste something new on TV.

TellyChakkar’s rating: Three stars