'The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case' web-series review: Nagesh Kukunoor's take on one of India's darkest chapters scores with its restrained telling

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It's fitting Kukunoor and his writers Sriram Rajan and Rohit Banawlikar opt for a streaming format to tell this bone-chilling story of a dark chapter in Indian history. But they don't treat the subject as a documentary read more
Cast: Amit Sial, Sahil Vaid, Bagavathi Perumal, Danish Iqbal, Girish Sharma, Vidyut Gargi, Shafeeq Mustafa
Director: Nagesh Kukunoor
Language: Hindi
It's hard to make political thrillers without taking sides. But what if a filmmaker decides to essay the aftermath of a tragedy that shook the nation? Filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor's The Hunt is one such show that chronicles what happened after how it happened. It's based on the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. Shoojit Sircar's Madras Cafe showed us the before, Kukunoor focuses on the after. Despite being a web series that allows makers to explore as much information as possible, Kukunoor wastes no time and jumps directly to the Prime Minister's speech at a crowded fare being blown into smithereens. The way he stages those little shots and jump cuts shows his grip over the material.
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Even the reaction shots don't feel theatrical or flimsy. The Hunt begins with an anonymous phone call to the Indian High Commission in Colombo. The receptionist is asked if the Prime Minister is alive. Her immediate response and discomforting close-up shows how there's going to be no room for theatrics here. The opening credits too do a fine job of absorbing the viewers into the world the makers have created. As the names begin to roll, the newspaper like visuals with moving images prepare us for the calamity in the series ahead. It's based on the book Ninety Days by Anirudhya Mitra. And Kukunoor chooses actors over stars. He wants vulnerability over vanity. He wants lesser seen faces to become more discussed names.
It's tricky to go back in time but there's definitely something charming and quaint about nostalgia. When Amit Sial, who plays D.R. Kaarthikeyan (IGP CRPF) is informed about the assassination, the next scene sees him in front of a television watching the news. That was the time when media was yet to dive into cacophony and decay for the greed for TRPs. The way the reporter reads out the news about Rajiv Gandhi, you wish to listen to her again purely because how composed she's. In fact, everyone barely raises its voice in the series. Even when a character tells Sial this is going to the most challenging time for him, he calmly responds by saying he'll choose his own team.
Kukunoor at times has faltered as a filmmaker but his fondness or fetish for slow-burn is just as fresh. He jumps to the point swiftly but moves ahead with the narrative with composure. The best example is his remarkable sports drama Iqbal that completes two decades this year. Even the turgid 8x10 Tasveer established the mystery around the plot and took its own sweet time to unveil all its cards. And with The Hunt, the filmmaker's ambitions must be lauded. It's a bold and precarious subject. It involves a giant of a political figure's assassination. It's fascinating how the makers refuse to conceal or change names and give them fictional stories. There are open references to IPKF and LTTE. In one key scene, Sial says how the Gandhi family is truly cursed.
It's also fitting that Kukunoor and his writers Sriram Rajan and Rohit Banawlikar opt for a streaming format to tell this bone-chilling story of a dark chapter in Indian history. But they don't treat the subject as a documentary. It unfolds like a whodunnit. We have been told how it happened. Now the SIT has to figure why it happened, and by whom it happened. We have heard this booming background score before that's meant to add a tinge of urgency to the plot, but the way it all unfolds keeps the show going. And such stories need conversational treatment. There are endless discussions and questions that pop up among the characters.
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It will also be interesting to see the response The Hunt receives. The Rajiv Gandhi assassination is a chapter that unfolded 34 years ago. The pages of history books have been long forgotten as we moved towards our phone screens. It's also a horror that barely resurfaces on social media. We have faint memories of reading about the former Prime Minister. Getting to know about the brutality of his death now feels like going through mixed emotions. Should we describe this show as a brush with nostalgia? Is it a history lesson we ought to have been taught with more detail? Or should we treat this as another whodunnit? As stated above- We know what happened. Now tell us how it happened and who made it happen. Take your pick.
Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)
The Hunt - The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case is now streaming on SonyLIV