If you saw Tandav’s trailer, you might have already seen the warning signs. Sure, the show boasts a stellar cast and a director (Ali Abbas Zafar) who is known for directing Salman Khan blockbusters, but its story is overblown and predictable, despite addressing real world controversies. While the series has its flaws, it doesn’t deserve the abysmally low ratings it has been receiving on IMDB, mostly by viewers and anti-fans angered by its controversies surrounding religion.
Samar Pratap Singh (Saif Ali Khan) makes a powerplay to secure his seat as the country’s next PM by taking his father off the playing board. His play, however, gets intercepted by Anuradha Kishore (Dimple Kapadia), who blackmails him into declaring his support for her as PM. As Samar plots his revenge, he also tries to make use of rising student politician Shiva (Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub) from VNU, orchestrating events to create rifts between Shiva and his friends, who are all in a socialist party.
The best thing about Tandav is the solid acting on display from all players across the board.
Saif Ali Khan balances Samar’s charm and deviousness well, and Dimple Kapadia is suitably authoritative (and deceptively scheming) as Anuradha. Ayyub is compelling as the righteous Shiva, and Sunil Grover brings nuance to his hyper-competent fixer, Gurpal, who unwinds from his dirty work at home with his cat and listens to religious sermons. Kumud Mishra and Tigmanshu Dhulia also turn in robust performances as career politicians.
for being deprived of a position of power and trying to use a promising politician as their pawn. Samar isn’t quite as devious as Frank Underwood, but he is every bit as driven, and even has his own Claire in the form of his wife, Ayesha (Sara Jane Dias).
If there is a second season, let’s hope that Tandav gets its act together and focuses more on characters and charts a more engaging narrative that’s less heavy-handed. It would be a shame to waste a cast of this caliber.