Artist : Vamika Gabbi, Priyanshu Painyuli, Naseeruddin Shah, Lara Dutta, Neena Gupta, Ratna Pathak Shah, Gulshan Grover, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Imaad Shah and Vivaan Shah
Author : Vishal Bhardwaj, Anjum Rajab Ali and Jyotsna Hariharan
Director : Vishal Bhardwaj
Release: 26 September 2023
Rating: 3/5

The real test of detective stories is that they keep the viewer or reader engaged till the end. Since ‘Charlie Chopra and the Mystery of Solang Valley’ is based on the story of a great writer like Agatha Christie, it has all the twists and turns of a detective story.

OTT released the first episode of the web series ‘Charlie Chopra and the Mystery of Solang Valley’ without any prior notice as a surprise gift for its subscribers. The entire series has now been released. This web series of six episodes with an average of 30 to 35 minutes is a new departure point in the Hindi entertainment world. From ‘CID’ to ‘Farz’ and ‘Suraksha’, many spies have been leaving their impact in Hindi cinema, but after Yash Raj Films’ film ‘Ek Tha Tiger’, there is a flood of spy films these days. Women spies are also seen in these spy films, but except for Alia Bhatt’s ‘Raazi’, the focus of the story has rarely been focused on women spies. Vishal Bhardwaj has created a new web series based on Agatha Christie’s novel ‘The Sitaford Mystery’, in which a new female detective Charlie Chopra is born.

Charlie Chopra learned espionage from his mother. And, she has to use this art to save her fiance who is caught by the police on murder charges. And, the person whose fiance is accused of murder is a retired Brigadier of the Indian Army. The matter is serious. The police are in a hurry to close the case by showing the arrest of the accused as soon as possible. But, a local journalist is also interested in it. He has to leave Himachal Pradesh and do TV journalism in Delhi and for the TV journalism of Delhi these days, he gets orders to find ‘sensation’. Charlie looks for clues. Sensation to the journalist. Both meet and the matter takes a new turn. Even if something happens, one more death occurs. Charlie says this is also murder. Police say, there is an accident. In the midst of their investigation, another death occurs. The police feel that now the matter has been solved. She declares her fiance innocent. Gets her photos taken. But, the picture is still pending…! Because, Charlie’s investigation is now to find the person who is also the murderer of those who committed these murders.

The real test of detective stories is that they keep the viewer or reader engaged till the end. Since the web series ‘Charlie Chopra and the Mystery of Solang Valley’ is based on the story of a great writer like Agatha Christie, it has all the twists and turns of a detective story. Vishal Bhardwaj has created the story between Shimla and Solang amid snowfall, so this environment also helps a lot in maintaining the mystery of the film. Along with Anjum Rajab Ali and Jyotsna Hariharan, he has tried to write a tight script for six episodes. Of these, the first two episodes and the last two episodes keep the audience engaged. While trying to expand the story, the script of the middle two episodes is a bit dull. There doesn’t seem to be much need in the series to communicate directly with the audience (fourth wall breaking) and whenever Charlie does so, it breaks the audience’s rapport.

As a director, the web series ‘Charlie Chopra and the Mystery of Solang Valley’ is no less than a touchstone for Vishal Bhardwaj. After his previous film ‘Pataakha’, if we leave one episode of ‘Modern Love Mumbai’ film series, then this is his comeback as a director of a full-fledged film or web series after five years. Vishal may say that once he makes a film, he forgets it. But, here he has done introspection. Together with his cinematographer Tassaduq Hussain, he has not only found picture-like frames that are captivating as well as interesting as per the story, but he has also allowed the flow of the story to falter rarely. Vishal himself says that he started making films only so that he could give his thoughts and music of his choice in them. And, the music of this web series is really good. Background music and also the songs, ghazals and poems that come between the stories.

In terms of acting, the web series ‘Charlie Chopra and the Mystery of Solang Valley’ is another excellent example of Vamika Gabbi’s acting ability. Vamika, who managed to woo the audience with her miraculous acting in Amazon Prime Video’s web series ‘Jubilee’, keeps the audience enthralled from the beginning till the end in this web series. Detective, she is from Punjab, hence all her dialogues are in Punjabi language only, which is sometimes understandable and at times also turns into a bouncer bowled on yorker length. The colors of Charlie Chopra’s character, which started with searching for the groom’s shoes stolen at the wedding, till the end, so many climbs and descents live in their own flow that Vamika Gabbi gets to show all the essence of her acting here. From the passionate girlfriend of a desperate lover to the partner who betrays us, her extra efforts in searching for the suspects and in between, with the sobbing heart of a daughter, whenever Vamika sets up the tent poles of the story, one understands that the Hindi entertainment world is We have found such a powerful actress, who is charming, intoxicating and who also knows how to act.

The web series ‘Charlie Chopra and the Mystery of Solang Valley’ has a complete cast of supporting actors. But, after Vamika, the acting of actor Priyanshu Panuli comes at number two. In the role of Sitaram Bisht, who does mobile journalism, Priyanshu appeared to be a fully fledged artist in this profession. His expressions and his movements are absolutely perfect. After this, whichever character Vishal decorated on the doorstep of artists like Neena Gupta, Gulshan Grover, Lalit Parimu, Ratna Pathak Shah, Imad Shah, Vivaan Shah, Lara Dutta, was seen giving a lot of light. Huma Qureshi has an interesting cameo in the series and looks like a nice surprise package in the middle of the series. The series is good for binge watching.