Zee5 Original “Poison” released on 19 April 21, 2019, is a Crime thriller revolving around the characters- Ranveer (Tanuj Virwani), Vikram (Freddy Daruwala), Antonio Verghese (Arbaaz Khan), Natasha (Riya Sen) and others. The narrative is set around 2 cities- Mumbai and Goa. The lead character Ranveer completes his 7-year term in Arthur Jail, Mumbai and moves to Goa after selling his ancestral property at a throwaway price. In Goa, he has to deal with the local don Dominic who is backed by the drug lord Antonio Verghese but Ranveer has come to Goa with a different purpose.
The 11-episode web series, directed by Jatin Wagle and written by Shiraz Ahmed narrates the intricacies of love turning into lust, greed causing the loss of distinction between right and wrong in the conscience of characters leaving the victim with a poison of revenge in their heart.
The narrative of Shiraz Ahmed is filled with various multilayered characters who have their individual hidden agenda and they can go to any extent to fulfil them. Dialogues are quite filmy in this web series. The owner of Cheetos club, Moses describing the character of his boss Dominic Dixon in the second episode, says, “Saboot ungliyaan unkon pasand nahin, ye dekh rahe ho-pahli baar mein ungli, dusri baar mein haath aur teesri baar mein mut karne wali jagah nahi chhorte, daya itni karte hain hain ki kisiko jaan se nahin maarte, dayawaan jo thehre humaare boss Dominic Dixon”. (Full fingers he doesn’t like, (If you make a mistake) see this – In the first time- finger, second time- the hand and the third time he doesn’t even spare your genitals, he shows kindness and doesn’t kill anyone, kind and merciful is our boss, Dominic Dixon.”)
Vikram, DSP by designation has the ambition of becoming a Police Commissioner. Will he be able to achieve his ambition? Will Vikram manage to save his family? You will have to watch this web series to know the future of Vikram. Vikram stays with his wife, Megha and two sisters- Ashu and Jahnvi. Ranveer’s character is filled with confidence and is very clear about his life goals. Ranveer plans and executes them faithfully with the help of various aides in his journey. There is yet another interesting character, Rani who is ready to join hands with anybody be it either with the cops or the bad guys. Rani’s character is quite sensational, more than that of Natasha.
While watching the web series produced by Altus Media, sometimes my sympathies were with Ranveer and sometimes with Vikram. This constant change of emotions for these two characters stayed till the last episode.