London Files Movie Review: Arjun Rampal Takes You Into A Dark Cave Of Psychological Mysteries

Thrillers may not be one of the most popular genres among the masses, but it is definitely one of the most popular ones among the classes. The additional metaphor of psychological features makes it an even better viewing experience. Voot Select's latest series, London Files, is carried by two of these two themes, but eventually it has a social fight involved in it that causes an unrest in humanity. The series tries to discover fake leadership issues as well, something that we have seen in many movies before.

The ultimate focus of revolution is again the same thing we have seen before in many Hollywood films, but London Files is a little soft about it. What V For Vendetta (2005) attempted two decades ago, yes, this slightly matches the idea, but not the storyline. However, with different aims and perspectives, London Files makes for a watchable, dark and intriguing thriller.

The series is driven by the lead character, Om Singh (Arjun Rampal), a homicide detective who is assigned to a high-profile murder/disappearance case. Om Singh is forced to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Maya (Medha Rana), the daughter of media king Amar Roy (Purab Kohli), and then his unstable life takes a different turn. His personal battles with mental depression and desperate attempts to escape this strained zone clash with each other, and his unrest increases even further. What follows is a series of dark secrets being exposed and his past unravelled. The entire series takes place in the period of unrest after a draconian anti-immigration law causes mayhem in the United Kingdom. Who's behind the murder and this so called social revolution is all that you find in the conclusion portion of the series.

London Files has got a very talented cast to support the narrative. Arjun Rampal is the leading force here, and he's probably the only unbeatable force. With such a depressed and scattered personality, he doesn't look like a detective at all, but if that's what the writer has written for him, then full marks to his performance. Rampal excels in the lead role, and he leads the entire narrative with his commanding skills.

Purab Kohli, as Media King, looks dashing, while Medha Rana, as his daughter, has got many surprises for you. Sapna Pabbi is one of the most active names in the OTT space currently, because she knows how to present herself on the small screen, and she does the same here too. The supporting roles of Sagar Arya, Mrunal Jain and Eva Jane Willis are good, whereas Gopal Datt will leave you wondering about his character as well as his performance.

The best thing about the series is that there is an entirely different dark atmosphere all around us. You can't imagine London so dark and disturbed in a mainstream Hindi product because we haven't done many such projects. Foreign issues have always been less familiar to our audience, and London Files explores them very well. When it comes to flaws, London Files has a lot of them. The problem is that it doesn't care about them because the subsequent results are already decided. When you see those results, you understand that there was no thrill at all, or rather, it was all revealed earlier. The screenplay for the same is slow in the middle part, but thankfully, episodes 5 and 6 have some degree of thrill to keep you engaged. Maybe the same kind of treatment for earlier episodes would have helped for the better and would have added repeat value too. I don't know why that 'sexual affair' thing seems deliberate and mandatory in every Indian web series, no matter if it has got anything to do with the main context of the series or not. This series is no exception to that, even though it has no vulgarity or sex scenes in it.

Director Sachin Pathak has tried his best to make it dark and intriguing, and it does work on occasions. It may not please the hardcore fans of this in general because they have seen a lot, but for first-timers or a new audience, this is definitely interesting material. Pathak didn't lack the skills; it's just that he used some of them on the wrong occasions. That suspense part is revealed too late. He could have hurried the same and then gone on exploring the dark world of civil revolution, but he sticks to the other elements first and then comes to the main point. Nevertheless, he has made a watchable, mysterious thriller with plenty of twists, and it has everything that the OTT audience seeks from a web series. Thankfully, it's short too.