Hasmukh, now streaming on Netflix, has the most clutter-breaking concept I have seen in a long time. What if the only way a man can be fully alive is by killing someone? If your muse is murder, then how far will you go to fulfil your dreams?
The 10-part series is created by real-life standup comic Vir Das and Nikkhil Advani and co-produced by Applause Entertainment and Emmay Entertainment for Netflix.
Hasmukh Sudiya (Vir Das) is the small-town Cinderella from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. An orphan, he lives with his physically abusive uncle and his aunt who sexually harasses him, which rather disturbingly is passed off as humour. Both her need for sex and her harassment of him. Piling on the abuse is Gulati (Manoj Pahwa), Hasmukh’s loathsome mentor who bullies and belittles him continuously. When Gulati goes back on his word of giving Hasmukh a chance to perform on stage, it leads to an ugly confrontation and Hasmukh snaps, killing Gulati in self-defence.
The murder gives Hasmukh the confidence/adrenaline rush he needs to overcome a stutter and an acute lack of confidence and he wows the audiences with his charm and risqué jokes.
Gulati’s manager Jimmy (Ranvir Shorey) smells potential and helps Hasmukh get rid of Gulati’s body and figures out the connection between killing off stage and killing it on stage. Soon, one of Hasmukh’s videos goes viral and he is asked by a channel called Alankar TV to come to Mumbai and participate in a standup comedy contest. Hasmukh manages to find ‘inspiration’ before every act, but soon the bodies are piling up, the cops are on his tail, and the guilt is overwhelming.
Hasmukh’s concept is inspired by Vir Das’s own compulsive backstage routine before every stand-up performance and a belt he has worn on stage for 19 years. The idea of a comic needing murderous inspiration is an intriguing idea, but the plot is slim and in constant danger of becoming repetitive.
The writers, Vir Das, Nikhil Gonsalves, Suparn S Verma, Amogh Ranadive, and Neeraj Pandey (In a lovely cameo as an overdramatic news reporter) do try and develop the story by adding a supporting cast. Love interests, warring TV channel producers, a sleazy channel head, two beleaguered cops, a mafia don, and Hasmukh’s rival Krushna Kumar or KK (Suhail Nayyar) are all brought in to heighten the drama. Unfortunately, with so many players entering the field, characterisation takes a beating, and we end up learning little about any of them.
There seems to be a rush to get Hasmukh to Mumbai, with no time being spent on exploring how Hasmukh handles a dead body the first time, how he feels after disposing one, or how he prepares to kill the second time when it's completely pre-meditated. The makers are reluctant to let their protagonist fade slowly to the dark side, adding a rider of him killing only ‘bad’ people and being meek and remorseful between kills.
The dead person’s crimes inspire his standup act which often devolves into a sermon against social evils or a stylised personal rant. It’s unfortunate then that we don’t see his guilt manifest as delusions, nightmares, hallucinations or addiction to numb the pain, given how fragile his mental state is.
Optionally Hasmukh could have had lesser guilt and more enjoyment with every murder, but sadly he sits on the fence of serial killings, wondering which way to go. He says that he is haunted by those he has killed, but actually seeing him unravel would have been so much more engaging than just taking his word for it.
The series also lacks a strong subplot that mirrors or contradicts Hasmukh’s journey, or a real raise in the stakes where Hasmukh is pushed to kill a loved one to get ahead. Alternatively, a dramatic turn of events like A Beautiful Mind where the best friend is the manifestation of mental illness would have also elevated the series allowing it to go places never explored before on OTT platforms.
Inspite of its drawbacks, Hasmukh does manage to keep you invested because call it an insight into human perversity, or having the advantage of a very clever idea, it’s hard to lose interest in a man who needs to kill to keep his job. It helps that Vir is very good as the eponymous Hasmukh, and slowly grows into a character who is the opposite of his glib, English speaking personality off-screen. He has never really performed in a fiction show/movie of this length and Vir does a great job shouldering the weight of the show.
Ranvir is good too as Jimmy but limited by an underwritten character whom we know little about inspite of him being in every episode. Manoj as the obnoxious Gulati repulses you, but the talented actor is reduced to repetitive lines that lose their impact after a point.
Ravi Kishan is fun as the sleazy channel head but why a woman had to keep flashing actual cleavage at him is a mystery. Suhail as KK also performs well, but again here is a character that could have been much more interesting. Raza Murad playing don Jameel Indori and Jaywant Wadkar playing a senior cop Tawde manage to stand out purely because of their good performances even in small roles. Also, there is such a thing as dramatic license, but no one grabs a colleague’s balls to teach him a lesson in any corporate office, and just like grabbing a breast would be unthinkable, attacking a man’s privates under the guise of office politics is not acceptable.
Hasmukh has a lot of potential and could have been a crackling psychological thriller layered with dark humour. It definitely has the binge-worthy element of ‘how will he kill again' but in its bid to keep the hero a good guy, it loses the opportunity of being a great show.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the series/film. TNM Editorial is independent of any business relationship the organisation may have with producers or any other members of its cast or crew.