London Files Ep 1,2 Review: Arjun Rampal-Purab Kohli’s homicide drama weaves riveting tale of crime & politics

London Files

Director: Sachin Pathak

Cast: Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Gopal Datt, Sapna Pabbi, Medha Rana, Sagar Arya, Eva Jane Willis

Streaming on: Voot

Crime thrillers can easily be dubbed as the undisputed favourite genre in the world of web series. Joining the several thrillers on the digital platform is Voot’s new offering, London files, directed by Sachin Pathak. This six-part show stars Arjun Rampal, and Purab Kohli in the leads, with Gopal Datt, Sapna Pabbi, Medha Rana, Sagar Arya, and Eva Jane Willis in pivotal roles. Produced by Jar Pictures, the show will start streaming on the OTT platform from 21st April.

The narrative is based in London. Arjun Rampal is seen essaying the role of a homicide detective named Om Singh who is tasked with solving the case of a missing college girl, Maya Roy (Medha Rana), daughter of media mogul Amar Roy, played by Purab Kohli. An addict and paranoid, Om sets out to investigate the case and is trapped in a play of secrets, lies and discoveries, which somehow connect with the traumatic history of his family. While Roy becomes a suspect in his own daughter’s case, things get trickier between him and Singh.

For starters, director Sachin Pathak and writer Prateek Payodhi’s crime thriller gets points for opting to base its story within a larger context with political undertones that have relevance in the current international and national politics too. In this regard, the series cuts away from other shows in the same genre.

The episodes are spread out with an average runtime of about 35 minutes, which allows for a steady pace, and contributes to keeping the interest of the viewer alive for what’s about to come. The continuous jumps to the past and present events are efficiently used as a tactic to unfold the happenings from different perspectives, all the while teasing one’s curiosity to know how all the dots would connect in the end.

Talking about performances, both Arjun Rampal and Purab Kohli dish out decent and satisfactory acts. It is pleasant to watch these actors, who have been around for some time now, get the opportunity to play roles different in tonality than what the audience is used to seeing them in.

While both Rampal and Kohli play fathers who are deeply caught up in an emotional and political labyrinth involving their children, they are starkly different. Their acting is believable, but it does not bring out strong and extreme emotions of any shade neither sympathy, disgust, sadness, nor anger. In the first two episodes that I watched, there was not any particular character I wanted to root for.

Newcomer Medha Rana is impressive and has a bright screen presence about her. It would definitely be exciting to see what more she can bring to the table in her future projects.

To conclude, the first two episodes of London files give viewers a quick glimpse into the deeply interconnected web of lives and crimes in the city. Although it makes one click on the next episode out of sheer curiosity, it would be interesting to see how the makers uncover and do justice to the several themes of the show in the remaining four episodes.

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