Bollywood Hungama

Web Series Review: SHAQUE: TRUST NO ONE works due to mass-appealing treatment and fast paced narrative

Star Cast: Parineeti Chopra, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Anup Soni, Harleen Sethi, Jennifer Winget Director: Rensil D'Silva Synopsis: SHAQUE: TRUST NO ONE is the story of a mother in crisis. Anvita Dutt (Parineeti Chopra) resides in Shimla with her husband Alok (Tahir Raj Bhasin) and mother-in-law, Madhu (Soni Razdan). She is over the moon after delivering a healthy baby girl, whom she names Apeksha, and is recuperating at Royal Shimla Hospital. Her world comes crashing down when a woman, disguised as a nurse, takes away her baby. Inspector Khurana (Anup Soni) begins investigating but is unable to make much headway as some of the CCTV cameras are not working. To add to Anvita's woes, the kidnapper sends her pictures of Apeksha on the child's birthday every year. The photographs don't show her face but indicate that she's growing up well. Two years later, Anvita gives birth to Siddhi (Ebedat Hussain). 8 years have passed since Apeksha's disappearance and her life still feels incomplete. She's in therapy and suffers from hallucinations, while refusing to take her pills. She often accuses mothers on the streets of having kidnapped Apeksha, leading to embarrassment for her and her family. Things take a turn when Gaurav Mathur (Dhruv Chaudhary) and Sakshi Mathur (Jennifer Winget) move to Shimla. They have a daughter, Rhea (Trisha Bisht), who studies in the same school as Siddhi. Anvita has strong reasons to believe that Rhea is actually Apeksha. What happens next forms the rest of the series. Shaque: Trust No One Story Review: Rensil D'Silva's story makes for a great whodunit. Rensil D'Silva's screenplay is fast-paced and peppered with some interesting and intriguing characters. However, the writing often gets very silly in some places. Abbas Dalal and Hussain Dalal's dialogues strike the right balance. The one-liners are dramatic and yet seem very realistic. Rensil D'Silva's direction is massy. The show is treated like a thrilling Hindi film, giving it wide appeal. Moreover, there are 7 episodes, with a runtime of just 30-40 minutes. Also, a lot is happening every minute and as a result, one will be hooked on to the proceedings. Rensil doesnt waste time and the story moves from the first scene itself. So much happens in the first few minutes. We understand that everyone has ulterior motives and the equation between the characters may not be what it seems. Things get sinister as we see Anvita unable to come out of her trauma, with the kidnapper sending her photos of her missing daughter every now and then. A few scenes that stand out are two characters debating whether to finish off a person and pass it off as a natural death, the drama in the operation theatre, a character making a stunning confession to his partner in the police station lock-up, etc. On the flipside, there are too many cinematic liberties from start to finish. Hence, one cant expect logic at every step of the narrative. A few scenes of Anvita jumping to conclusions are necessary, but viewers may not root for her character as a result. A few developments are bewildering, like a heavily pregnant woman driving alone in the hills at night (no explanation given for it either), cops going all alone without informing the force to pick up possibly dreaded criminals etc. The suspense also gets predictable and wont come like a bolt from the blue. The actions of the culprit will raise questions. Lastly, a few tracks are not summed up properly. Shaque: Trust No One Performances: Parineeti Chopra makes a solid comeback and proves yet again that she is a highly talented and capable actor. She plays the challenging and complex character like a pro, without a single false note in her performance. Tahir Raj Bhasin is aptly cast and delivers a first-rate performance. However, he does get overpowered a bit by the ensemble cast. Anup Soni is like the male lead and gets to essay a very adorable character. Performance-wise, hes terrific. Jennifer Winget brings a lot of gravitas to her role and delivers a strong performance. Harleen Sethi (Shreya) delivers yet another power-packed performance. Sumeet Vyas (Dr Bhaskar) has limited screen time but makes up for it with his fine performance. The same goes for Soni Razdan. Dhruv Chaudhary and Veer Rajwant Singh (Baldev; cop) are fair. Nasirr Khan (Dean) and Tarana Raja (Lajwanti) do well in small roles. Rajiv Khanna (Tribal Baba) keeps his act restrained and avoids turning the character into a caricature. At the same time, his track may leave audiences divided. Ebedat Hussain and Trisha Bisht are cute. Shaque: Trust No One music and other technical aspects: There are no songs in SHAQUE: TRUST NO ONE. Raju Singh's background score is in sync with the shows theme. Jishnu Bhattacharjee's cinematography is breathtaking. The locales of Shimla and Chail have been captured exceptionally by the lensman. Pria Suhas' production design (additional production design by Mayur Sharma) is classy while Varsha Chandanani and Shilpa Makhija's costumes are appropriate. Vicky Arora's action is minimal. Shweta Venkat Mathew's editing is razor-sharp. Shaque: Trust No One Review Conclusion: On the whole, SHAQUE: TRUST NO ONE works due to its mass-appealing treatment, fast-paced narrative and a solid ensemble cast. Parineeti Chopra leads from the front with a powerful and assured performance, while Anup Soni, Jennifer Winget, Harleen Sethi and Tahir Raj Bhasin provide able support. Despite the cinematic liberties and a somewhat predictable suspense, the show has enough twists, drama and thrills to keep viewers hooked. Rating - 3 stars