Review: ‘Search: The Naina Murder Case’ is a clinical, engaging whodunit

Right from the first episode itself, the conversations in Search: The Naina Murder Case have the quality of sparring and jousting.

Police officers Sanyukta and Jai, politicians Tushar and Pradeep, Tushar’s campaign managers Sahil and Raksha, the teenager Naina and her friends – each of them is poised against the other, verbal swords on ready. Brought together by Naina’s rape and murder, the characters battle their way through a tricky case with pretzel-shaped twists.

The JioHotstar series, written by Shreya Karunakaran and Radhika Anand, is based on the popular Danish series Forbrydelsen (The Killing). Having set its characters on a collision course, the Hindi show eventually settles into a murder mystery with no shortage of suspects.

Sanyukta (Konkona Sensharma) is all set to rejoin her husband Bheesham (Mukul Chadda) in another city. The investigation into Naina’s demise postpones Sanyukta’s departure, much to Bheesham’s annoyance.

Sanyukta’s boss Rathi (Naved Aslam) teams her up with the new recruit Jai (Surya Sharma). A textbook chauvinist with cocked gun and cocky attitude, Jai is the very opposite of the self-assured, measured and forensically-minded Sanyukta.

Tushar (Shiv Panditt) is similarly an island of calm despite the circumstances. On the brink of a crucial election against Pradeep (Govind Namdeo), Tushar is kept busy by his fractious aides Sahil (Dhruv Sehgal) and...

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