Betaal, Betāl or Betāla (transl. "Demon") is an Indian zombie horror television series based in a remote village that serves as the battleground between East India Company Army officer Lt. Col John Lynedoch, his battalion of zombie redcoats from the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and the fictional CIPD force.[1] The series is written and directed by Patrick Graham and co-directed by National Award winner, Nikhil Mahajan.[2] Produced by Blumhouse Productions and Red Chillies Entertainment, the series stars Vineet Kumar Singh and Aahana Kumra in significant roles.[3][4] The series received generally negative reviews, with praise for its performances and the use of mythology and zombie, but criticism for its lack of thrill and editing.
| Betaal | |
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 Official promotional poster | |
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| Created by | Patrick Graham |
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| Country of origin | India |
| Original language | Hindi |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 4 (list of episodes) |
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| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 45-49 Minutes |
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| Network | Netflix |
| Release | 24 May 2020 |
Synopsis
editCommandant Vikram Sirohi leads the Baaz Squad, an elite unit tasked with clearing land for development projects in remote Indian regions. Complicit with corrupt tycoon Ajay Mudhalvan, Vikram follows orders to forcibly relocate villagers, unaware of the dark secrets lurking beneath the surface. When a tunnel clearing operation unleashes an undead army led by a British colonel bent on domination, Vikram and survivors must confront their past sins and battle for survival against the supernatural onslaught.
As chaos ensues, Vikram and his team uncover the sinister origins of the undead horde and the colonel's quest for power. Trapped in a remote barracks, they face internal strife as Tyagi falls under the colonel's control and Mudhalvan betrays them for his own survival. Vikram, haunted by past atrocities, finds redemption in protecting Saanvi, Mudhalvan's daughter, who holds a crucial key to stopping the colonel's rampage. Amidst the onslaught, sacrifices are made, and Vikram's ultimate act of selflessness triggers a cataclysmic showdown, leading to the destruction of the colonel's shrine and the release of Saanvi.
Cast
edit- Vineet Kumar Singh as Vikram Sirohi
- Aahana Kumra as DC 'Ahlu' Ahluwalia
- Suchitra Pillai as Commandant Tyagi
- Jatin Goswami as Assad Akbar
- Jitendra Joshi as Ajay Mudhalvan
- Siddharth Menon as Nadir Haq
- Manjiri Pupala as Puniya
- Swapnil Kotriwar as Kanji
- Meenal Kapoor as Shakuntala Mudhalvan
- Yashwant Wasnik as Sarpanch
- Savita Bajaj as Mausi
- Ankur Vikal as Bhunnu
- Pankaj Upadhyay as Inspector Khurrana
- Richard Dillane as Colonel Lynedoch
- Krishna Singh Bisht as Kaushal
- Pawan Singh as Yadav
- Akhilesh Unnithan as Chandran
- Ratan Nag as Tripathi
- Shrishti Fadtare as Leila
- Tanmay Khemani as Drummer Boy
- Syna Anand as Saanvi Mudhalvan * Harshvardhan Singh as pretas
Episodes
edit| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Tunnel" |
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| 24 May 2020 |
| 2 | "The Barracks" |
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| 24 May 2020 |
| 3 | "The Battle" |
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| 24 May 2020 |
| 4 | "The Colonel" |
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| 24 May 2020 |
Production
editOn 15 June 2019, it was announced that Netflix had given the production a series order.[5] The series is written and directed by Patrick Graham, co-written by Suhani Kanwar and co-directed by Nikhil Mahajan and Casting by Paragg Mehta. The show was produced by Red Chillies Entertainment. The shooting was wrapped up in August 2019.[6][7] It was released on Netflix, making it the second collaboration between the production house and Netflix.[8]
Promotion and release
editThe trailer was released by Netflix India on 8 May 2020.[9] The series started streaming on Netflix from 24 May 2020.[10]
Critical reception
editRahul Desai from Film Companion said that, "Betaal, for much of its four episodes, is a brilliant homegrown spoof on the zombie-folk horror genre. The zombies are utterly useless, spending their time knocking on closed doors and being butter-fingered flesh eaters."[11] Poulomi Das on Silver Screen India provide another scathingly negative review for the show's opening season saying, "...the zombie thriller – another Netflix misfire in a series of misfires – somehow manages to be too long, repetitive and needlessly convoluted, stretching its one-line plot, glaringly under-written, way too thin."[12] In contrast to these negative reviews, postcolonial scholar Johan Höglund's academic study of the series notes its political content and argues that the "zombie pandemic that erupts in Betaal is an attempt to render the apocalyptic violence and death that unregulated capitalism performs on ecology and precarious communities"[13]
References
edit- ^ Choudhury, Bedatri. "Shah Rukh Khan's Zombie Drama One Of Netflix India's Five New Shows". Forbes.
- ^ "69th National Film Awards 2023 complete winners list: Rocketry, Alia Bhatt, Kriti Sanon, Allu Arjun win big". The Indian Express. 24 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
- ^ "After Bard of Blood and Class of 83, Shah Rukh Khan to Produce Horror Series for Netflix". News 18. 16 July 2019.
- ^ "Spook fest by Shah Rukh Khan on Netflix?". Mid Day. 15 July 2019.
- ^ "Shah Rukh Khan to produce horror series for Netflix; likely to be titled 'Betaal'". Economic Times. 15 July 2019.
- ^ "'Betaal': Shah Rukh Khan's new web series promises zombie warfare with a twist; here's what we know". DNA. 21 August 2019.
- ^ "Shooting for Betaal wraps up". Outlook. 5 August 2019.
- ^ Jha, Lata (16 July 2019). "Shah Rukh firm's Betaal among 5 new original series on Netflix". Live Mint.
- ^ Betaal Official Trailer - Viineet Kumar, Aahana Kumra, Suchitra Pillai - 24 May - Netflix India. Netflix India. YouTube. 8 May 2020.
- ^ Sharma, Sampada (9 May 2020). "Betaal trailer: The zombie redcoats are here". Indian Express.
- ^ Desai, Rahul (25 May 2020). "Betaal On Netflix Is A Deafening and Dead Foray Into Zombie Horror". Film Companion. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ Das, Poulomi (26 May 2020). "Betaal Review: An Awful Netflix Zombie Horror That Has Nothing To Say". Silverscreen.in. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ Hoglund, Johan (4 April 2022). "The Adivasi and the Undead: From (post)colonial Carnage to Necrocene Apocalypse in Betaal (2020)". Journal of Postcolonial Writing. 58 (2): 199–211. doi:10.1080/17449855.2022.2035502. S2CID 247983526. Retrieved 30 May 2022.