'Raakh' Review: Ali Fazal, Sonali Bendre in a Slow-Burning Mystery Redeemed by Grief
A review of 'Raakh,' a crime drama that struggles with pacing and exposition but finds its strongest footing in grief and its supporting performances.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
The Quint says 'Raakh' is a familiar crime mystery based on the disappearance of two teenagers, and much of it feels overexplained and slow. It becomes more compelling when it focuses on the parents' grief and on the violence and masculinity driving the case.
'Raakh' is like a mystery box that takes too long to open. The review says it gets better when it shows the sadness of the missing kids' parents, but too often it keeps explaining itself instead of letting the story speak for itself.
Analysis
Review
'Raakh' is an eight-episode crime series built around the disappearance of Sahil and Suman Arora, a brother-sister duo who vanish on their way to the All India Radio office. The show is presented as a fictionalized retelling of the 1978 Ranga-Billa case, with Ali Fazal playing Jayprakash, the sub-inspector leading the investigation.
The review argues that the series takes a familiar path for Hindi streaming crime dramas and does little to break out of tired formulas. For a large stretch of the runtime, it apparently does not give viewers enough reason to invest in either the missing teenagers or the police inquiry that follows. The writing is described as heavily expository, with characters often speaking mainly to explain the plot rather than to feel like real people in a scene.
The piece is especially critical of the show’s self-conscious acting and overexplained moral conflicts. While Fazal and Sonali Bendre are described as convincing in their roles, the illusion breaks in some scenes. The review says the series keeps spelling out ideas that could have been shown through action or left for viewers to infer.
The strongest praise goes to Ramandeep Yadav and Akash Makhija, who play Rajjo and Babu. The review calls them the show’s standout performers, noting that their characters are more sharply written than most others. Rajjo is presented as more restrained, while Babu is more unstable and unsettling.
The series becomes more effective in its fourth episode, when it shifts toward the parents’ grief. Mona Arora’s denial and rage, and Ashok Arora’s breakdown after reading a forensic report, give the story its emotional center. The review also says the show effectively shows the corrosive force of toxic masculinity and its punishment of homosexuality through the character Pyare Mohan.
Overall, the review sees 'Raakh' as a slow, uneven mystery that is most alive when it stops explaining itself and lets grief do the work.
Key points
- 'Raakh' is an eight-episode crime drama tied to a fictionalized version of the 1978 Ranga-Billa case.
- The review says the series is slow, overexplained, and often too self-conscious to feel natural.
- Ali Fazal and Sonali Bendre are described as convincing, but not always fully convincing in every scene.
- Ramandeep Yadav and Akash Makhija are singled out as the standout performers.
- The show is most effective when it focuses on parental grief and on toxic masculinity.
- The review says the series addresses how homosexuality is punished through the logic of 'impure' masculinity.
If the show’s emotional core lands for viewers, its focus on parental grief could give the mystery real weight. The review also suggests that the performances of Ramandeep Yadav and Akash Makhija help lift the series in key stretches.
If the pacing and overexplanation dominate, the series may leave viewers disengaged long before the finale. The review also warns that its stronger ideas about grief and masculinity are undercut when the show tells rather than shows.
