The tagline for 36 Days is “Secrets are injurious to health.” There’s an inordinate amount of dysfunction in a cluster of villas tucked away somewhere in Goa, where tourists have not yet discovered an isolated stretch of sand.
Adapted by Anahata Menon from the first season of the Welsh noir crime series 35 Diwrnod, and directed by Vishal Furia (Criminal Justice, Chhorri), the Sony Liv series is a whodunit in a slightly different format.
It begins with a corpse and then goes back 36 days to examine the period that lead to the killing. No detective comes in to solve the murder.
Farah (Neha Sharma) has recently moved into Casa de Magnolia in Goa. As a sexy and single woman, she instantly sets the cat amongst the pigeons. Farah drives a flashy red car, has a red stewardess uniform and languorously lounges by the pool in a bikini. She is ogled by the men (surely a bikini in Goa is not a rare sight?) and disliked by the women.
The neighbours include scientist Rishikesh (Purab Kohli), his sulky wife Radhika (Shruti Seth) and two teenage kids. There are the eccentric Machados – Denzil (Kenneth Desai), his wife Binafar (Shernaz Patel) and their disturbed son Riad (Faisal Rashid).
The aspirational Lalita (Amruta Khanvilkar) and her disgruntled casino manager husband Vinod (Sharib Hashmi) do not seem to belong to the Casa but are lodged there due to the largesse of the vulgar landlord Tony (Chandan Roy Sanyal). Tony lords over the property and his wife Sia (Chahat Vig).
The residents seem friendly enough, drinking together and throwing the occasional party, but each house has its troubles. Denzil is the victim of blackmail; Lalita has a shady side hustle; Rishikesh and Radhika have unresolved animosity.
The outside world intrudes into the outwardly placid environs, in the form of Sia’s transgender friend Tara (Sushant Digvikar), Lalita’s criminal-minded brother Bobo (Shivam Patil) and drug kingpin Noel (KC Shankar). Even a rat in Binaifer’s kitchen has far-reaching consequences.
Farah’s entry into the closed community bothers everyone for their own reasons, so any of them could be her killer. It does not matter who killed Farah – they had self-destructed by the time she lay in a blood-soaked heap on the floor.
The actors lend their disparate strengths – flamboyant Chandan Roy Sanyal and Sushant Digvikar, muted Purab Kohli and Shruti Seth, a bit theatrical Shernaz Patel, Kenneth Desai and Faisal Rashid, competent Amruta Khanvilkar and Sharib Hashmi, and the sultry Neha Sharma.
The eight-part series moves at a leisurely pace. Everything that happens does not necessarily connect to the murder. The helter-skelter format is more to build suspense and comment on the corrosive effects of pretence or the damage caused by ignoring mental health issues.
All that acid bubbles under stylish villas with pretty foliage. Aerial shots by cinematographer Qais Waseeq reveal the bungalows set like jewels amidst verdant surroundings, without any eyesores in sight. The location alone could be a good reason to watch the show. Just as wedding movies influence fashion, 36 Days might give viewers home decor ideas.
