Title: Janaawar: The Beast Within
Director: Shachindra Vats
Cast: Bhuvan Arora, Bhagwan Tiwari, Atul Kale, Vaibhav Yashvir
Where: ZEE5
Rating: 3.5 Stars
This seven-episode series may seem like a routine crime thriller, but beneath the investigations and severed heads lies a darker reality: the unravelling of conscience, the merciless anatomy of revenge, and a society where humanity is a fragile luxury. Grotesque killings and fractured morals keep you glued, if not gasping.
Set in a town abutting a forest, the series wastes no time establishing its terrain: ancient caste hierarchies, a police station where power is more potent than paperwork, and a town where every complainant drops a bigger name than the last. Enter MLA Jagtap, complaining about his missing brother Sarjo, while another family bemoans stolen gold worth twenty lakhs. Amid this circus, Sub-Inspector Hemant Kumar (Bhuvan Arora), low by caste, sharp by instinct, and tethered to a heavily pregnant wife who deserves better than his erratic hours, finds himself investigating a headless corpse in the jungle. And no, this is not the first such discovery. How these cases intertwine and unravel forms the crux of the narrative.
By the sixth episode, a line drops like a thesis statement: “Gussa aadmi ko janaawar bana deta hai…” Anger turns man into beast. The show runs with this thought, layering caste prejudice, bureaucratic rot, and Hemant’s own inner turmoil into a grim but engaging whodunnit.
Actors’ performance
If Janaawar has a spine, it is Bhuvan Arora as Hemant Kumar. He lends a lived-in gravitas, the kind of performance where the eyes betray more than the dialogue. Deeksha Sonalkar Tham as Garima, his wife, brings warmth and occasional steel, reminding us that a crime thriller is only as human as its domestic interludes.
Bhagwan Tiwari as DSP Pathak, Atul Kale as Inspector Dayanand, and Vaibhav Yashvir as ASI Balwant Pandey all fit their uniforms with disarming authenticity. No moustache twirling, no over-ripened melodrama, just believable men caught between duty and compromise. It’s rare for a thriller ensemble to avoid slipping into caricature, but here, everyone looks like they belong. And that is no small triumph.
Music
The atmospherics are, frankly, half the show’s success. The camera stalks the night like a predator, the jungle feels claustrophobic, and the town’s interiors are convincingly grimy without looking art-directed to death. Cinematography makes the rural landscape pulse with menace and melancholy, while the night shots deserve an extra nod.
The music, however, is more functional than memorable. It swells where it must, dips where it should, but leaves no echo. Unlike the visuals, the score rarely transcends background duty. Still, the series’ aesthetic commitment to realism ensures you never doubt the world you’re inhabiting.
FPJ verdict
Overall, the series isn’t the genre-shifting revelation one might crave, but it’s a competently crafted, atmospheric thriller with enough bite to hold attention. The storytelling is taut, episodes brisk, and performances earnest.
In short: this is not the beast that will devour you, but it will nibble at your curiosity until you’ve clicked through all episodes. A solid binge, if not a lasting memory.
