What’s Tandav all about?
Tandav takes the route of old school political dramas which shows nothing is more important than power. Samar Pratap Singh (Saif Ali Khan) is a person with an ambition to become the prime minister. And for that, he can do anything. For his help, Samar has a sidekick in the form of Gurpal Chauhan (Sunil Grover). Interestingly, Samar was once a good person but it’s his father and veteran politician, Devki Nandan (Tigmanshu Dhulia), who teaches his son that power is the most important thing.
Devki Nandan has been in power for long and when everyone thought that he is set to swear in as the PM for the third time, Samar turns the table and makes his way clear to fulfil his dream. The real game starts when Anuradha Kishore (Dimple Kapadia) enters the scene. She too always had the ambition to be the PM but was restricted as the senior leader of the party. Anuradha along with her sidekick Maithili Sharan (Gauahar Khan), takes control of the situation and sidelines Samar from becoming the PM of India.
The tale is all about these two forces, Samar and Anuradha, who try to downplay each other by playing political games.
Keeping aside the basic story, we get to see the farmers’ agitation, the world of student politics and disruption in relationships. All these points do have a connection with the base story of Tandav, but unfortunately, the series lacks in edginess and sharpness. At first, the series looks quite good and sets the mood but eventually gets cluttered due to a forced attempt of making it a complex web. Plenty of characters are plotted just to set the stage for the second season. Yes, this one didn’t really give any conclusion and now, all hopes are on the next season.
Tandav does have its moments but it’s cliché for its genre. We have seen such twist and turns in several political dramas, so nothing really stands out. Talking in a layman phrase, it doesn’t live up to the expectations.
Tandav in other departments
Ali Abbas Zafar tries his hand in the web world for the first time and does a decent job. Yes, it’s just a decent and there’s a lot of space for improvement. He has handled the 9-episodes long show like a film, which is clearly visible. The screenplay could have been much much better with so much sub-plots on a platter.
Speaking of performances, Sunil Grover shines as there’s no tomorrow. With Tandav he delivers a breakthrough performance. His deadpan look is engaging. Saif Ali Khan does a good job, but there’s nothing stand out about him. He has delivered such performances on multiple occasions. Dimple Kapadia is brilliant as Anuradha Kishore, while Gauahar Khan does a good job. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub (Shiva Shankar) is seen as an emerging leader from student politics background. Lately, he’s getting some deserving roles and like every time, he nails this one too. Kumud Mishra, as always, leaves a mark with his mature performance.
On a conclusive note…
Tandav is a dish which seems mouth-watering initially but has an average taste when it’s fully prepared. It’s watchable due to Sunil Grover, Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, but on the content front, there’s nothing new.
(Image courtesy- Sunil Grover/Instagram)