Breathe - Into the Shadows Review: Fails to quench your thirst for suspense and thrill!

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Amit Sadh, Nithya Menen, Ivana Kaur, Resham Shrivardhan, Saiyami Kher

Director: Mayank Sharma

Rating: **

 

M

ayank Sharma's 'Breathe: Into the Shadows' follows a parallel subplot with a blisteringly lacking screenplay. The series could have been a nail-biting experience but the not-so-complicated twists and the extremely predictable storyline makes you think if this season is at all even close to its first season or not. The story is all about a father desperately searching for his daughter and inspector who carry a pang of guilt from his past.

Set up in Delhi, the series starts with the abduction of a medical student Gayatri (Resham Shrivardhan) by a masked man with limping issue. Then the story cuts to a courtroom where we can see Avinash Sabharwal, a psychiatrist (Abhishek Bachchan) who summons his expert testimony on a case. Avinash and his chef wife, Abha (Nithya Menen), are parents to a young girl Siya (Ivana Kaur) who is a 'juvenile diabetic' patient and takes regular insulin shots. They live a happy life but one day their beautiful world collapses when, at a friend's birthday party, Siya goes missing. The Police investigate the case but they fail to find Siya.

After nine months, Avinash accepts that Siya will never come back until one day when Avinash and Abha are contacted by the kidnapper via a hilarious letter and a free iPad that contains a video in which the kidnapper tells Avinash to kill random people, who are guilty of exhibiting sins to save her daughter. Meanwhile, Inspector Kabir Sawant (Amit Sadh) is transferred in the hostile environment of the Delhi crime branch and given the charge of crime investigation. Breathe: Into the Shadows is all about the crimes done by the innocent parents and deep dark secrets behind the intention of the antagonist.

Mayank Sharma's direction follows the unmeasured balance between Abhishek and Amit's characters. Mayank is more strong in directing Kabir's premises whereas Avinash's scenes fail to hold the audience's attention. Screenplay by Mayank Sharma, Bhavani Iyer, and Vikram Tuli is plain dull initially but grip the ground with every episode. Their thought of connecting the Ravan philosophy with the human mind is appreciable but they fail to explain its crux.

Abhishek Bachchan plays Avinash Sabharwal who has tried his best to deliver his foremost performance but its hard to say that he fails to prove himself here. Although he had a lot to do in the series as his character demands a kind of uniqueness, but unfortunately, the actor is only able to impress the audience in a few scenes.

Nithya Menen does justice to her role and plays her role well. Whereas Saiyami Kher is hardly seen in the series but whenever you see her as Shirley, you will adore her. The only man of the show who holds the entire series on his shoulders is non-other than Amit Sadh. His role as Kabir won't disappoint you. His body language, expressions, and dialogue delivery will make you appreciate the man. Shrikant Verma and Hrishikesh Joshi try to add laughter dose with their average performances.

Overall, Breathe: Into the Shadows starts with a lazy speed but grips its pace with each passing episode. Abhishek Bachchan's performance is the same as he performs in movies so nothing to praise about him here and his fans will be disappointed without a doubt. Some twists and turns are engaging but fail to quench your thirst if you are a lover of crime-thriller. So it's just a one time watch as the story doesn't have much to offer.