‘Bloody Brothers’ Review: Terrible Name Yet Jaideep Ahlawat-Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub’s Chemistry Makes This Bearable

Director

Shaad Ali

Cast

Jaideep Ahlawat, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Tina Desai, Shruti Seth, Mughda Godse, Satish Kaushik

What’s It About

‘Bloody Brothers’ revolves around two brothers, who are usually not that much in touch, but after a night of drunken driving and subsequent hit-and-run, the two come closer to each other than ever. Slowly skeletons start coming out of the closets, not just of the two but everyone who is even remotely associated to the person who has been killed. Will the two brothers be able to save themselves from incrimination? Are they even actually guilty? Is there something major happening that neither of the brothers managed to notice? Well, you’ll have to watch the show to find out.

Watch Trailer

What’s Hot

The chemistry between Jaideep Ahlawat, who plays the elder brother, and Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, who plays the younger brother, is fantastic. The show is watchable just because of their unusual bonding, and the quirkiness that the two have between them. While Ahlawat looks like a strong brooding personality, he is not all guns-and-gore. Ayyub, as well, plays to the galleries while being the nerdy shayar in a sleepy mountain town.

Satish Shah is in top form. As the villainous bald-headed mafia king, he totally nails it. While his character isn’t physically that huge, one look from the cigar-smoking man is sure to make you shit bricks.

The beautiful locales of Ooty are the highlight of the show. There are shows or films where the locales don’t play that much of a part, but not this one. In ‘Bloody Brothers’ the locales play an important part in the flow of the storyline.

What’s Not

Firstly, the name of the show. ‘Bloody Brothers’ is a terrible name for a show like this. The first impression after the name is that of a show on guns and gore. But the show is actually a thriller presented in the garb of a dark comedy. It’s a very difficult genre to explore, but the naming of the show just kills the entire fun. The Scottish show from which this has been remade was called ‘Guilt’, and even in the Indian context, that would have been a far more apt name for the show.

Mugdha Godse and Shruti Seth’s sexual angle is a total waste. It barely has any relevance to the main plot of the story. Throughout the entirety, you’re made to think that there would be something in this plot that would prove to be a twisting point for the main story. Sadly, there is no intersection of these two plot lines, which makes you wonder at the end – was the entire lesbian or bisexual angle with a few lip locks strewn all over just to grab the eyeballs of audiences? Was it just done for publicity's sake?

Shaad Ali’s direction is sluggish. The setting of the show in a lazy town like Ooty make this come out good, but the narrative becomes a bit too slow, especially when you’re trying to put in a thriller angle to the story.

Another thing that hurts bad is the background score, or rather the absence of it. For a thriller, you need to have some great background score to create the tension between scenes. Sadly, 'Bloody Brothers' fails there, and in most of the intense scenes, you barely feel the tension that a thriller should have.

The character of the elderly neighbourhood woman, played by Maya Alagh, was introduced a bit too late in the plot. After all, she was one of the main characters of the show, and yet she was shown much later than some of the other unimportant characters. Alagh's act seemed forced to come out as annoying. There was barely any need for her to be talking down to every character in a 'Tu - Tu' format.

Even actor Jitendra Joshi was wasted totally. Despite him trying to pull himself up in every shot, the arc of his character never allowed him to play his part with his hundred per cent. There was no depth to the character of the detective he was playing and no explanations as to why he was this way. Why was his family dispute shown? There was absolutely no need to bring that on the show unless it has relevance to the main plot of the show.

Also, one of the highlights of the show is the shayari by Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub. But you will be left wanting for more, and yet you won't find more than just two or three instances. The show could have had a few more shayaris coming from Ayyub.

Verdict

‘Bloody Brothers’ rides high on the bonding between Jaideep Ahlawat and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub. Despite its shortcomings, it’s a decently made thriller and the dark comedy it uses from time to time is what makes this stand out. But, it's only because of the two leads that this show is indeed a One Time Watch. I am going with 2.5 stars.