'Akka' review: Keerthy Suresh-Radhika Apte can't save predictable series
What's the story
The revenge thriller series Akka, starring Keerthy Suresh and Radhika Apte, arrived on Netflix on Friday. Directed by Dharmaraj Shetty, it is produced by Yash Raj Entertainment. It also stars Tanvi Azmi, Anshumaan Pushkar, and Monika Panwar and is largely set in Southern India in the 1980s. Akka is unmistakably ambitious and offers a sprawling, fascinating world, but loses steam too soon.
Plot
It's a women's world in Netflix's new series
Akka follows Bhavani (Suresh), a clan leader in the fictional town of Pernuru.
The clan follows a matrilineal system that allows love but prohibits marriage.
Casteist and classist, it's run by powerful, violent women who control the liquor trade.
However, it comes under threat from the enigmatic Rudra (Apte), who will stop at nothing to settle old scores with Bhavani.
#1
Too complex for its own good
Akka is packed with elements essential to a successful series: polished actors, a leading production house's backing, and an engaging premise.
And yet, these factors fail to salvage it.
Shetty's storytelling lacks confidence and feels extremely rushed.
There's endless, messy exposition and not enough time to absorb this complicated, layered world.
The potential is limitless, but the execution leaves much to be desired.
#2
Choked by heavy-handed storytelling
Big reveals are constantly dumbed down, every second dialogue is underlined, and the show feels overwritten.
A series like this needed to be high on tension and thrills, but the show's ambition is curtailed by its predictability.
You can predict the "twists" from miles away, and it won't take long to guess that a seemingly sweet character will turn out to be a traitor.
#3
Apte seems stuck in familiar role
Akka not only squanders the possibilities of the premise, but also largely wastes the primary cast's talents.
While Azmi and Suresh get meaty roles, Apte seems helplessly stuck in a role predictable from the first frame.
Rivalries are established haphazardly, characters are killed off abruptly, and the show moves on without letting anyone register the impact of significant events.
#4
How much violence is too much violence?
Films like the KGF series, the Dhurandhar franchise, and Animal, among many others, have been rightly lambasted for their violence.
Akka, too, cannot escape this criticism.
There is more gore than you can stomach: bodies are charred, heads are sliced off, and men die left, right, and center.
Has storytelling become impossible without blood splattered all over our screens?
Verdict
Waste of strong cast and premise; 2/5 stars
Akka has a juicy, interesting opening episode, but offers diminishing returns as the story drags on.
Five episodes aren't enough to develop this ambitious story, and the rivalry between two unconventional, fierce women does not translate well on-screen.
The show exhibits some signs of life toward the climax, but by then, it's too little, too late.
2/5 stars.