Charlie Chopra and the Mystery of Solang Valley Review: With the onscreen Hindi adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel The Sittaford Mystery, director Vishal Bhardwaj makes his return to the noir setting of a mystery thriller brought to life in the eponymous snow-clad location. His 6-part series stars Wamiqa Gabbi, Priyanshu Painyuli, Naseeruddin Shah, Neena Gupta, Ratna Pathak Shah, Lara Dutta, Vivaan Shah, Chandan Roy Sandal, Gulshan Grover and others.
All the episodes have their runtime under the 1 hour mark, with the series being produced by Vishal Bhardwaj Pictures, Priti Sahani, and Agatha Christie Limited, written for screen by Bhardwaj, Jyotsna Hariharan and Anjum Rajabali, and its cinematography has been done by Tassaduq Hussain. The first episode of the show had been pre-released on June 30, 2023, and the rest of the season was also released on September 26, 2023, ahead of its initial streaming date.
Charlie Chopra Sony LIV Review Contains No Spoilers
Charlie Chopra and the Mystery of Solang Valley Review: Discussion
In the snow-decked Solang Valley, a rich man’s death spills out numerous unreliable narratives around the mystery. Enter Charlie Chopra a dilettante sleuth who may soon be on to something big. Will she able to solve mystery at hand, while also being emotionally involved with some of the suspects in the case.
Vishal Bhardwaj has time and again presented his blood-chilling storylines in snow-clad environs to heighten the haunting visuality, further adding the elements of darkness in his overarching plot. And so, this choice of location, though forbidding, may also be familiar to those who’ve come across his previous works, plus this front also works in the favour of visually identifying with settings like those in Sherlock Holmes’ Hound of the Baskervilles story. The cinematography equally adds to the sense of murkiness with the incorporation of dark lighting and camera work.
With a dysfunctional family at the centre of the mystery, that too with these characters being played by big screen actors, it’s a given that neither of their narratives can be relied on from the get go. However, while the show gets concerned with resolving the mystery, not much about these characters as people is let on to us. They remain back as mere pieces of a bigger puzzle that needs to be solved. And so, despite the baggage of lies being carried by them, they stay back as pawns in a game of chess meant to heighten the sense of mystery and intrigue.
The first episode sets the tone for the slow-burn mystery to be unravelled, as other than the main murder at focus, the show also attempts to set apart more subplots that run into the main plot as its branches. The commencement itself, with a seance scene, works well to also incorporate horror-themed colours into the series.
Wamiqa Gabbi’s exceptionally versatile portrayal of the character-cum-narrator as the protagonist first caught me by surprise and pulled a smile out of me. Her seamless switch between two different personas altogether maintains a composed gravity and her transition into a spirited fourth-wall breaking narrator spouting full-paced Punjabi jargon appealed greatly to me at first. However, her repetitive comments take on a staler look after a point.
While the first episode is a ride in terms of presenting the connections between a huge bunch of characters while simultaneously showcasing the haunting murder scene, the subsequent entries slow down to some extent while digging into the respective characters’ backstories and alibis (red herrings in some cases).
During this process, the plot assumes the looks of non-linearity as it not only moves forward to solve the case, but also backwards to unravel the characters’ motivations and lives. And the same, starts introducing greyness to the plot, further questioning if the “victim” fell out as a result of the circumstances or if there was something larger at play.
What didn’t work for me personally was how underwhelming Charlie’s introduction as an amateur sleuth was. Moreover, even when the show attempts to establish her past, it completely tumbles down and isn’t able to set a great precedent to her eventual transition into the role of a detective. As for the other larger than life inclusions in the ensemble, while many of these actors settle into the background, their characters don’t seemingly add much to the plot and they stay back as rather hollow additions.
Ultimately, the series may not be as engrossing as Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock, but it works well in terms of being a fun addition to the Hindi roster of detective shows or movies, now being led by a woman detective. Regardless, on the good side of things, this show is still an entertaining fit that doesn’t demand much from the audience, nor will it test them with anything too discomforting. It persists as a light watch that again picks up pace in the final episode.
Charlie Chopra Review: Final Thoughts
As mentioned earlier, due to the largely spread-out ensemble cast’s presence, the show focusses more on solving its whodunit, but it doesn’t try as much to delve deeper into its characters. By doing so, it’s almost as if the show is reminding us that these characters are but disposable and may be recycled to produce new faces in a possible future season.
Gabbi’s Charlie isn’t introduced in the most convincing way either. Her backstory doesn’t seek much of our attention until the very end of the season when a chilling cliffhanger drops hard on her and us, thereby again reminding us that even if the rest of the ensemble can be shuffled in the future, Wamiqa’s character is here to stick for the longer haul. The overall casting is perfect, even if the whodunit isn’t. The presence of a grand ensemble may have further acted as a hindrance to individually enhance each of their character’s depth.
And if the show is actually renewed for another season, it has already gained a loyal enthusiast in me because I’m looking forward to seeing more shades of Charlie, and for her to grow past her singular reliance on her ebullient Punjabi fourth-wall breaking demeanour.
Charlie Chopra & the Mystery of Solang Valley started streaming on SonyLIV on the September 26th evening.
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