Sunflower – Online HINDI

Based in Mumbai, ‘Sunflower’ revolves around a murder that occurs in a middle-class housing society of the same name. When Mumbai police officers— Digendra (Ranvir Shorey) and Chetan Tambe (Girish Kulkarni) begin investigating the case, they suspect nearly everyone. However, Sonu Singh (Sunil Grover), a simpleton living in the same society, is drawn into the murder mystery and becomes the prime suspect. What happens next forms the crux of the story.

This engaging eight-part situational crime comedy is co-written by Vikas Bahl (writer-director of popular Bollywood films ‘Queen’ and ‘Super30’) and Chaitali Parmar. Along with Rahul Sengupta, Vikas wears the director’s hat in this series, which marks his digital debut as well. Right from the start, the audience is aware of how one of the society’s occupants (Raj Kapoor) died. But it’s the narrative—which revolves around the investigation proceedings and how everyone fits into the suspect category—that has been interestingly penned down with a dash of humour and plenty of thrills.

The screenplay is intriguing throughout, thanks to its quirky characters with odd tics and characteristics that define them, as well as the subplots that blend well into this character-driven plot. For instance, Sonu Singh, a 35-year-old eccentric salesperson with Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), keeps everything perfectly organised—from his foot mat to everything on his work table. Dilip Iyer (Ashish Vidyarthi) is another character who aspires to be the chairman of Sunflower Society in order to make it a happier place to live. Imagine he has a committee of members that interview everyone who wishes to stay in this society and have stringent rules against allowing unmarried people, divorcees, queers, and so on. Then there’s Mr Ahuja (Mukul Chadda), a lecturer by profession with a smirky appearance and a courteous demeanour, and his ever-supportive wife (Radha Bhatt). Overall, the majority of the scenes revolve around a small group of society members, depicting everything from internal society politics to nosy neighbours.

While the first few episodes keep you hooked primarily due to the involvement of so many characters and their personal lives, as well as their link to the crime, there are some that drag on, especially those involving Sonu caring for Mr. Tondon (Sameer Kakkar). Ideally, the shorter episodes and tight editing (by Konark Saxena) would have aided the plot’s progression while maintaining the show’s pace. The background score composed by Sahej Bakshi and Vesh Shrivastava is interesting and complements the story well.

Sunil Grover plays Sonu Singh to perfection, never straying from his role as a lonely man with no social circle due to his strange behaviour. Sonu only speaks to his mother and enjoys engaging in lengthy conversations with telemarketing callers. He has his own set of rules, such as “In friendship, no sorry, no thank you, and no udhaar (loan),” – how filmi! He also keeps the same naive expressions throughout, which will undoubtedly remind some of the ardent followers of his popular comedic persona ‘Gutthi’.

Both the police inspectors, Ranvir Shorey as a no-nonsense cop and Girish Kulkarni as his sidekick in the investigation, give earnest performances while finding the missing pieces of the puzzle. The shudh-hindi conversations and expressions of Mr Ahuja (played by Mukul Chadda) are outstanding. His on-screen wife Radha Bhatt has only a few lines, but her reaction to her husband’s persistent paranoia is compelling.

To sum up, while the notion of presenting a murder mystery with a sense of humour is unique in some aspects, the series’ laid-back execution can make it tedious to watch at times. Regardless, this eight-part series will keep you entertained for most parts — with its weird yet relatable characters and some surprising deeds.