Digital review: ‘The Last Hour’ (Amazon Prime)
‘The Last Hour’, which premiered on Amazon Prime Video just a few days ago, promised an intriguing story starring Sanjay Kapoor, Shahana Goswami, Shaylee Krishen, Karma Takapa and others. The concept is created by Amit Kumar (who also directs the eight-episode series) and Anupama Minz. There’s a promise of something a little supernatural and also thrilling but does this Indian Original series deliver all that its trailer shows?
When Dev (Takapa) comes across the death of his brother in an encounter, he creates a ritual in the area which allows him to view the last hour of someone’s life before their death. With cop Arup (Kapoor) watching over him at what he does and then, discovering he knew what happened even without being present, believes he can be valuable to the investigation ongoing. Dev’s skill is intercepted somewhat when it becomes apparent that he managed to save Arup’s daughter Pri (Krishen) from taking her life and then their association continues in a rather interesting way.
‘The Last Hour’ is most definitely a show which you have to wait for the story to unravel as the episodes go on. The beauty of it can be described in the way the story is portrayed to the audiences and the direction of Amit Kumar is to be thanked for that. The treatment of the plot, the characters which come into play as well as the emotions that are portrayed all play to the intrigue and keep you in suspense somewhat as a viewer, finding it pretty difficult to switch off. The writers and creators of the show are also worth praise for this.
As far as the performances go, the main actors are great but the stars of the show are definitely Krishen as Pari and Takapa as Dev. These two lead the cast very ably, with sometimes an old school charm which comes through pretty exquisitely. Krishen in particular could remind you of a veteran actress in both her looks and her performance, able to fit into the kind of character in which she shines and with elegance but very much maintains the lure she’s expected to have. Takapa’s performance as Dev very much exudes confidence even in the vulnerability and he sustains the different shades of his complex character all through. Goswami also gives an applauseworthy performance as Arup’s colleague Lipika and, together, Kapoor and her have decent chemistry playing colleagues and potential love interests. Kapoor is, of course, fantastic as Arup, the troubled man who is trying to build a bond with his daughter after his wife’s death and he also has to solve the case in question and leads the team with vigour. Raima Sen does a slightly blink-and-you-miss-it performance but it would’ve been great to see more of her.
Overall, perhaps the only thing that lets ‘The Last Hour’ down is the slight part of the plot which isn’t quite believable which may sway the some viewers – particularly those not expecting or not interested in the supernatural or futuristic genres. It also gets a little slow in pace in some places but not quite enough to make your attention divert. Other than this, the series does a decent job in portraying a North East community, and ticks a number of genres with the eight-episodes it offers. In fact, for anyone looking for some newness, this will be right up your street and the background score is something else altogether!
