‘Kathmandu Connection’ Web series revisits 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai: Directed by Sachin Pathak, the show stars Amit Sial, Gopal Datt, Aksha Pardasany and Anshumaan Pushkar. The series was out on SonyLIV on April 23. The one season contains six episodes full of drama. Kathmandu Connection, SonyLiv’s new investigative drama, is inspired by real-life events that shook the country 28 years ago. Here’s everything you need to know about the story, cast and review.
The plot of ‘Kathmandu Connection’
Sachin Pathak’s new investigative drama web series on SonyLiv, the man behind hits such as Drishyam (2015) and Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008). The story revolves around the aftermath of the Mumbai 1993 blasts, a series of 12 terrorist bombings, following widespread rioting in the city due to the Babri Masjid demolition in the Ayodhya case.
In the series, we have Amit Sial as DCP Samarth Kaushik, a ruthless, no-nonsense police officer assigned to solve a major mystery with all its connections to Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. Post the explosions, three new cases emerge. Sandip Garg (Vijit Singh), the investigating officer in the blasts is murdered on March 25, Dharmendra Arora (Pratik Mehra), a famous hotelier and businessman is abducted on August 26, and a renowned journalist, Shivani Bhatnagar (Aksha Pardasany) is being stalked. While tracing the phone numbers of all three individuals involved in the case, Kaushik discovers they all have contact details from the same country code, +977. These nuggets of information take him to Kathmandu, kickstarting a whole new story across the border.
‘Kathmandu Connection’ Series Cast
The six-episode series on SonyLiv offers us a promising lead once again. We see Amit Sial, who has become somewhat of a backbone in the OTT space, as DCP Samarth Kaushik. Sial was previously seen in SonyLiv’s A Simple Murder, Netflix’s Jamtara – Sabka Number Ayega, Hotstar’s Hostages, and Amazon Prime’s Mirzapur. Aksha Pardasany delivers as journalist Shivani Bhatnagar and Gopal Dutt, who wowed everyone with his performance via several mini-series before OTT, as Hitesh. And actor Zakir Hussain is also seen in the series.
Watch the trailer here —
The trailer is sharp and begins with the revelation of a thread common to the murder of a police officer, the abduction of a businessman and the stalking of a journalist. Sial plays the rough inspector dogged by controversy who is set the task of following the lead. The thread leads up to the mysterious and fashionable Sunny. Unknown, unseen, he seems to have masterminded these events for an unknown motive.
‘Kathmandu Connection’ Review
The story has the potential to be an exposé but it lacks the depth and conviction required to portray such real-life incidents. The screenplay is confusing at the beginning as it takes too long to link everything to Kathmandu and even the exchanges between the characters are repetitive. However, the latter part of the series is quite enthralling, especially the last two episodes that have ample twists and turns to keep the viewers glued.
Performance-wise, it’s Amit Sial’s show all the way. He gets ample scope to live Samarth’s multi-layered character, who is strong as a cop and vulnerable as a father and husband. It’s his honest act that holds the uneven narrative together. He is well supported by police superintendent Sharvan Mishra (played by Anurag Arora) and CBI Officer Hitesh Aggrawal (played by Gopal Datt).
Both Aksha Pardasanyand and Anshumaan Pushkar have previously worked in the popular web show ‘Jamtara: Sabka Number Ayega’. Aksha has pulled a decent act as news anchor Shivani Bhatnagar, however, her on-screen chemistry with Sial is unnatural. Anshumaan is not-so-convincing as Sunny Sharma who is involved in illegal activities like smuggling, kidnapping etc. His lean physique and gentle dialogue delivery make him look more like a common man than a con man.
All said, ‘Kathmandu Connection’ does fizzle out in between as the writing becomes wayward and the show takes a generic route, too. Keeping these loopholes aside, overall this six-part cat-and-mouse chase is a decent one-time watch that leaves hints for the next season as well.
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