Arabia Kadali Review: Fishermen from rival villages find themselves in grave danger when, after going through some very bad luck, they find themselves in international waters and are imprisoned in a foreign jail. With justice nowhere to be found, will they be able to get back home?
-
Arabia Kadali Prime Video Cast
Satyadev, Anandi, Nasser, Raghu Babu, Dalip Tahil, Poonam Bajwa, Prabhavathi, Harsh Roshan, Pratyusha Sadhu, Kota Jayaram, Vamsi Krishna, Bharath Bhatia, Chandra Pratap Thakur, Danish Bhatt, Ravi Varma, Amith Tiwari, Nihar Pandya, Alok Jain
-
Arabia Kadali Series Director
V.V. Surya Kumar
The series consists of 8 episodes, each with a runtime of approximately 30 minutes.
Arabia Kadali Review
Prime Video’s intense maritime adventure, Arabia Kadali, is a thrilling endeavour that highlights the plight of impoverished fishermen struggling to survive and how they are exploited by the rich and powerful, including their governments, for financial gain. The series is a moving and heartbreaking watch that can be a bit superfluous sometimes, but it has its heart in the right place, leaving us rooting for its protagonists.
The series, with 8 episodes, is mostly a breezy watch but gets a bit too dramatic during the second half. The hardships of the fishermen and their feud with the neighbouring village are enough of a struggle to get us to take notice. Let’s be real, watching people navigating a tiny boat in the high seas is a thrilling watch. Adding an extra angle of being caught in Pakistan and then the government falling feels a bit overkill at this point.
Either way, I enjoyed the twist of being arrested in Pakistan and the difficulties of the villagers as they strive to free their family members. It’s a very real and very tragic fate that the fishermen face, and what makes it so much more thrilling is the fact that it’s extremely relatable. Rarely do we ever see innocent people being able to get justice in our world easily, and that’s just reiterated here. Although Badiri’s plight is heartbreaking, it’s Ganga who shines in the series and brings forth the abject heartbreak of her helplessness.
That being said, I think Arabia Kadali gets a bit too melodramatic towards the end. The bloated last two episodes are hilarious at best and become too silly to be taken seriously. There was absolutely no need to introduce a new character, but we unfortunately do get that, which turns into complete senselessness in the end.
It also doesn’t help that the acting of the supporting cast, especially in the Pakistan setting, is absolutely terrible. Getting bigwigs like Nasser, Raghu Babu, and Dalip Tahil is hardly enough, and they are unable to pull the sad state of the series out of the quicksand. Most of the actors feel uncomfortable and Disney villain-esque, and end up being funny rather than scary. Shabaz Alam is the most unnecessary addition to this show, and I somehow couldn’t place the point of his costume being so tight. Do Pakistani military personnel have a thing for tight uniforms? It’s so silly.
Either way, Satyadev and Anandhi are fantastic and are enough to make us root for them. They bring the plight of their helpless situations well, and even though the dialogues and the situations can feel forced and cartoonish sometimes, I still enjoyed watching it for them. Is it a memorable show? Not really. But I think that it had the potential to be something different. However, it ends up being quite generic, with nothing new in the end.
Final Thoughts
Arabia Kadali is enjoyable and relatable, thanks mostly to Satyadev and Anandhi’s moving performances. Although the story and dialogues are quite generic, as is the storytelling, I found myself interested for most of the runtime. It could’ve been great, but it misses the mark in the end.
Also Read: Sarzameen Review: Another Terribly Vapid Test of Patience