STREAMING: LOFTY AMBITIONS, TRITE EXECUTION.

The nine-part Amazon Prime series Tandav, created and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, opens to a quote by a Polish philosopher - 'In politics, being deceived is no excuse' - as a mawkish romantic song, reminiscent of '90s Bollywood, plays in the background. This postmodernist flourish, a blend of 'high' and 'low' art, is a smart bit of foreshadowing, as the show is pulled by two different forces.

One is centered on the campus politics of Vivekananda University (or VNU, obviously modelled after you know what). The other is set in Raisina Hills, depicting the internal power struggles in India's ruling party, Jan Lok Dal (JLD), that has governed the country for three consecutive terms. The college and the country, the Left and Right, the two-faced nature of power: duality is embedded in the very essence of Tandav.

The series opens to a day before the election result. Most believe that the JLD will win by a landslide margin, and the party's ruthless patriarch, Devaki Nandan (Tigmanshu Dhulia), will become the prime minister for the fourth time. But his son, Samar Pratap Singh (Saif Ali Khan), is as hungry for power. You know this can't end well. I thought Samar would stage a coup, but he poisons his father instead.

One of the first striking things about the show is its charged tone. Frames freeze, the background score booms, the dialogues jump and bite. It is fun experiencing a cinematic universe that revels in melodramatic pleasures. But this heaviness soon starts to burden Tandav.

To begin with, it is marked by uneven acting; crucial conversations, such as the one between Samar and Devaki right before his death, lack natural rhythm; characters burst into abrasive lines devoid of immediate context. You want to shake this series by its shoulders and say, 'It's all right, take a deep breath, relax.'

Amazon Prime's Tandav nods at contemporary events and politics, but is marred by poor acting and its misplaced belief in its own depth

The background score, for instance, is so overwhelming that it starts crushing the scenes; it is no longer music, it has become noise. Even during unpleasant exchanges, where uncomfortable silences can reveal character - Samar talking to his dead father or humiliating a veteran JLD leader, Gopal Das (Kumud Mishra), among many others - the score is in a state of constant agitation. It feels as if the series doesn't trust its audience; many times, it doesn't trust itself.

Tandav is often crosscut between two stories - one...

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