P.I. Meena

When you have too much money to rope in Vinay Pathak, Harsh Chhaya, Parambrata and Jishu but you forget to write a story, a disaster like PI Meena happens. From the beginning, everything about this web series is very random: like why protagonist Meenakshi Iyer is so irritating, what is Parambrata aka fraud lawyer's story and how it is related to the main plot of virus, why there is so much detailing of the newspaper house bearing nauseating resemblance to Anandabazar Patrika's office and its former editor Aveek Sarkar etc.

PI Meena is a series of phone calls people are making to each other in a world with no bluetooth. Before receiving a call, the person politely makes an announcement that they have to take the call -- thus contributing to a lot of wastage of time which the series as a whole is.

Camera work is zero like the plot. Scenes are disjointed and many are difficult to watch as there is no concept of light either.

Parambrata and Jishu are stalwarts of the Bengali film industry but PI Meena makes both of them a laughing stock -- something they don't deserve at this point of their careers. Or maybe they do for agreeing to essay such ludicrous characters.

There is no spoiler alert as nothing can spoil PI Meena more than the production itself.

Virus cannot be seen with light microscope.

A person in coma for 3 years is no longer kept on cardiac monitor.

Any microbiologist would not contaminate his own or someone's clothes with gloves he just used handling a specimen.

Surgeons in India are not MDs. They are MSs.

Once you can get over such inconvenient medical facts, there is a lot to enjoy in this layered and textured tale.

It brings a world of Kolkata and Eastern India to life. Background score and cinematography are decent.

There are several veteran actors in supporting cast but one weak point is the lead, Tanya Maniktala. She reduces the character to perpetually angry and rogue. She is angry at herself because she blames herself for her brother's coma. She is angry at the system. Unfortunately that is all we get out of her. There is no nuance. One can't help wishing that someone like Tridha Chaudhary (Ashram) or Disha Thakur (Main Monica) was cast in that role.

I am loathe to criticise other people's work as a lot of sweat and toil go in but the recent spate of subpar shows shows across platforms have been disheartening.

I thought Charlie Chopra was disappointing (from a Director I regard so highly) but PI Meena just broke my heart - the evident lack of effort in its writing is hard to digest and a criminal waste of resource and opportunity IMO.

In there somewhere lies a story that could have been, but it is crushed under its own sprawling ambition and inability to pull it all in cohesively in a taut narrative which is key for this genre. In a classic case of tell not show, the verbosity is tiring and needless. Meena's character quirks don't land most of the time because the character is just handed some "cool "markers but not vested with authenticity. And as lovely as Tanya Manicktala is, she isn't able to rise above the pedestrian written material.

Once again as is often the case, the writers fail to create authentic workspace dynamics - the way Meena speaks with her Boss is inexcusable, her playing truant and wasting office resources without any consequence or even a slap on her wrist - given that the agency has 2 half baked cases she can't be a star asset really - are just few of the minor points.

In spite of the dark web and virus and terror groups and agencies, the series has a very dated vibe. Meena's constant platitudinal VO is a drudge and gets in the way of the story. The crater-sized and at times improbable laugh-out-loud plot-holes don't help and some of the subplots one could have done without because they do nothing for the story, at all.

Big words are bandied about but protocols and due process (which could have aided the tautness of the narrative) are cavalierly ignored and often there's no context or logic, the series plods on flat as last year's beer with things happening conveniently because they must happen, loose ends flutter in thin air and that climax - don't get me started on the climax. The loose meandering edit really doesn't help.

One's time will be better spent watching Bengali series Indu instead (also on Prime) - made with proper intent and probably 11/3 the budget - it is an engrossing watch.

Despite having good plot and script it seems they are eagerly wanted to complete the series with worst climax and end. All the episode are good and plot is twisted nicely but mood will be spoil At the end because how the story ends. It doesn't suit to script at all.

Despite having good plot and script it seems they are eagerly wanted to complete the series with worst climax and end. All the episode are good and plot is twisted nicely but mood will be spoil At the end because how the story ends. It doesn't suit to script at all.

Many things haven't explained in the end which are supposed to be explain.

As someone who follows content on Amazon Prime, I was quite impressed by the trailer of PI Meena and really looking forward to what the show would entail. Watched it on the day of release and the first episode definitely tested my patience (the intelligent casting helped here though). The story picks pace as you sit through it watching Ep2 and 3 , and totally gets you wanting to know more as you move beyond Ep4 n 5. The writing is crisp and justifies the actions of a young detective who is dealing with a devastating personal past yet trying to make it through her challenging profession. The Bengali actors justify their parts and the Deadly Virus theme conceptualized way before the Pandemic deserves all the KUDOS !

The story does leave you with some 'Why's' in the end but overall I found the series worthy of my time .