Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Here’s a spoiler about ‘Search: The Naina Murder Case’ that many viewers will appreciate: this season isn’t complete. We don’t know who the murderer is by the last episode. And I was extremely annoyed, and irritated that I didn’t find out this show is based on a hit Danish show called ‘The Killing’, which has 4 seasons over 40 episodes on Netflix. So if you’re prepared to invest that kind of time on a murder mystery, just watch the Danish original instead. Okay, now let’s shift our focus on ‘Search: The Naina Murder Case’.
Konkona Sen Sharma is at her seasoned best as primary protagonist ACP Sanyukta Das, a police officer all set to leave Mumbai crime branch & start a new life in Ahmedabad. But when a female student’s body is found in a popular politician’s car, Sanyukta is forced to take up the high profile case by her boss last minute. Paired with a hot-headed younger cop, ACP Jai Kanwal (Surya Sharma), the pressure in on Sanyukta to solve the case before she leaves town.
Naina Marathe, the victim, seems to be the perfect student on the surface, but as the cops dig into her life to solve the murder, multiple suspects and twists keep emerging. Some of the principal suspects are politician Tushar Surve (Shiv Panditt), since the body was found in one of his campaign cars. Then there is Naina’s ex-boyfriend Ojas (Kabir Kachroo), and her suspicious best friend Lavanya (Atiya Tara Nayak), with the latter two being the last people the victim was seen with on campus.
Unfortunately for Sanyukta Das and Jai Kanwal, the deeper they dig into the Naina murder case, the murkier it gets, and their suspect list keeps growing as more clues emerge. A parallel subplot follows politician Surve and his close associates, Sahil Srivastava (Dhruv Sehgal) and Raksha Patil (Shraddha Das), as they scramble to do damage control after his alleged link to the murder is leaked to the media. Meanwhile, Naina’s devastated mother, Payal Marathe (Iravati Harshe), seeks justice for her daughter, while her husband, Uddhav (Sagar Deshmukh), decides to take matters into his own hands and punish the culprits himself.
From political games to romantic entanglements, the Naina murder case remains interesting and gritty throughout its six-episode run, however, the focus on Sanyukta’s personal life slows the pace. Konkona is excellent as the workaholic cop, whose dedication to the job puts her at loggerheads with her family. Her mother, husband, and daughter all feel they’re never her priority, leaving her struggling to balance the case with her domestic life. Introducing a detective with their own baggage has become a staple in crime shows, and more often than not, it serves as an unwelcome distraction. It worked in The Buckingham Murders and Rautu Ka Raaz, but not so much here.
One of the most entertaining aspects of ‘Search: The Naina Murder Case’ is the constantly clashing personalities of Sanyukta and Jai Kanwal. Although they’re partners, their investigative styles couldn’t be more different. Jai is impulsive, hot-headed, and trigger-happy, whereas Sanyukta is measured, professional, and prefers evidence over intimidation. She builds cases through logic and hard facts; Jai is happier chasing instinct and hypothetical theories. Surya Sharma also brings the show’s only real comic relief, with Jai’s sarcastic quips providing an amusing contrast to Sanyukta’s sombre seriousness.
Episode 5, the penultimate chapter of the show, throws at least two more suspects into the mix, leaving you wondering how the creators are possibly going to wrap up the Naina murder case with just one episode left (at that point, I still didn’t know this was only Season 1) and so much ground left to cover. When the finale finally rolls around, however, it introduces yet another suspect in the closing minute, and I was massively disappointed.
Up until then, Naina feels more like a specter than a fully realized character whose fate you desperately want answers to. If the Naina Murder Case is meant to be a multi-season series, the writers really needed to spend more time developing Naina instead of devoting so much attention to Sanyukta’s domestic troubles. After all, the mystery is the show’s primary hook, and by the end, it simply doesn’t feel compelling enough to justify stretching it into a second season. This should have been an eight-episode miniseries. I don’t think I’m particularly interested in what comes next.
You can watch ‘Search: The Naina Murder Case’ on JioHotstar.
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