Murder by the Sea (2022) Review: Anjan Dutta, Ananya Chakraborty Deliver Punches

Murder by the Sea is a thriller series directed by Anjan Dutt and stars Ananya Chatterjee, Anjan Dutt, Arjun Chakarabarty, Paayel Sarkar, Trina Saha, Suprobhat Das, Sujan Mukherjee and Rupankar Bagchi, alongside other cast members. The series has 8 episodes, each with a runtime of around 25 minutes.

Hoichoi describes the series as:

A high-profile Bengali businessman gets murdered in Puri, leaving more death and the unveiling of many dark secrets in his wake. Suspects become targets, and friends turn foes in this web of lies and betrayal.

– Murder by the Sea Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –

Murder by the Sea’s first episode is filled with exposition; to be honest, it is all exposition, and, like every other Hoichoi show, it also shows us the murder in the first episode itself, or, well, that someone dies. Of course, there are also a ton of suspects, much like every other Hoichoi show, and we try to break down who has the motive to carry on the murder to fruition.

Murder by the Sea is a reminiscing of Murder in the Hills, another one of Anjan Dutta’s murder mystery thrillers. The way it starts, the way it introduces storylines and characters and then how it gets into the nitty-gritty of things is just extremely similar to the execution of the 2021 series. Considering how that one turned out, you’d wonder where this one is going from the first minute of its runtime.

For some strange reason, everyone in Murder by the Sea just takes out firearms in broad daylight and punches each other. I understand frustration and all that, but it’s so weird to see people just pull out a gun on Puri’s beach as we live in one of those Wild West movies. Sure, it’s probably normal when no one is looking, there’s a lot of crime out there, but it’s a bit much to assume that people are just doing this in the middle of the beach.

Anyway, the series, much like its predecessor, is far too long. There’s too much going on yet too little. This dichotomous situation is what makes it interesting, but it also makes the pace rather sluggish. The series doesn’t show us nearly enough and spells everything out down to its last detail. I mean, mystery thrillers are interesting when the viewers break down the story with the protagonist, not when we are handled like little children!

Moreover, the series gets rather messy and chaotic as its progresses. Whether it be thanks to our erratic protagonist or the way the story progresses, there isn’t much rhyme or reason to what happens on-screen. It feels as if the creators put in as many story points as possible to keep things interesting but made a mess while tying these things together.

Also Read: Hoichoi’s Murder in the Hills Review: Bogs Itself Down

Honestly, they didn’t tie them together at all; they just let different things happen, hoping they would come together eventually. They, unfortunately, don’t – and it’s a pot full of ingredients that never come together. The story provides a punch and then drags it out for episodes on end. Just like Murder in the Hills, the story would’ve been better suited if it had cut down these unnecessary conversations and given the audience more credit to figure things out a bit on their own.

Although Murder by the Sea wraps things up rather abruptly, I think there’s some ground for appreciation with that ending. The twist actually comes a bit from left field. If you weren’t keeping your eyes peeled on the screen, you’d be taken by surprise rather happily. I enjoyed the ending, and although it’s a bit much, I think I liked how they tied everything up. Sadly, I wish the rest of the series was this good with its mystery.

Ananya Chatterjee is delightful as the unreliable narrator Arpita. Her chemistry with Anjan Dutta is great, and, being the protagonist in this tale, she holds on to your attention quite well. The confusion of whether or not she’s mentally stable enough to go through all of this and her fidgety behaviour is great at establishing her as a narrator who is not trustworthy.

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That being said, Arpita is rather annoying. Yes, I get it – that’s the whole point of the unreliable narrator. But she’s too over-the-top, so much so that she feels like a caricature of someone with Bipolar Disorder and not a real representation of it. I, however, did enjoy Anjan Dutta’s character. He’s the supporting husband to an erratic Arpita but has much to offer that makes watching this till the end somewhat rewarding.

On the other hand, Arjun Chakarabarty’s Arjun, with his past trauma, is rather annoying, and his toxicity won’t make you sympathise with him, although you’d desperately want to. All of the characters of Murder by the Sea are somewhat like this – they have tons of backstory that they hammer into our brains but annoying enough for us not to care about them.

Summing Up: Murder by the Sea

Murder by the Sea’s last episode is a delight, but the rest of the episodes leading up to it really do it a disservice. It drags so badly, and the little nuggets of interesting tidbit that we do get prove to be rather problematic because the characters decide to sit with it for entire scenes to spoon-feed everything.

Regardless, Ananya Chatterjee provides a great performance, and although her character is rather difficult to relate to, I think the series ends things with a bang. I think Murder by the Sea is watchable, but isn’t the best at holding on to our attention for quite some time.

Murder by the Sea is streaming on Hoichoi.

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