Kailasapuram Review: This ZEE5 Original Brings The Dark Side Of The Society Into Light

The latest ZEE5 Original series Kailsapuram is directed by Bhargav Macharla, who tries to bring his vision on screen. In Kailsapuram, the director explores the dark and dirty secrets of this small town that has been drowning in the smoke of ganja. The story is told to us through a gang of five close-knit intermediate students, studying in the same college and living in the same village. The story pans out in six episodes and keeps you hooked to the screen with its non-linear storytelling.

We meet Shiva, Shailaja, Raju, Suresh and Seenu, the group of friends who hang out together almost all day. They all come from small and poor families. These young teens are the only ray of hope for their distressed parents. They’re all well aware of the fact that too many responsibilities are placed on their young shoulders. Call it teenage rebellion or lack of a reality check, this bunch happily does what they want to do without caring much. Drinking at night by the lonely spot in the village or smoking up pot by the railway tracks, they do it all… sometimes by choice and sometimes by force.

The families in and around the village of Kailasapuram can barely afford a livelihood. But this bunch of youngsters know what they want and look for ways to get it. Their constant need for ‘fun’ and drinking, smoking isn’t affordable but there are ways to get a decent pocket-money. The solution, drug peddling. It’s all jolly good until one of them makes a mistake. Raju is the class 10 drop out working at a petrol pump and a proud veteran in the group for drug addiction and drug dealing. He had introduced others to the world of ganja. Slowly his greed kicks in and he starts taking a share out of what he is selling. This misdeed is caught by the drug lord and he dies a mysterious death which is disguised as a suicide.

Their safe secret is now in more danger than ever before. With Raju’s sudden death, Shiva and his friends become the next target. Shiva wants to take everyone out of the mess and live a new life devoid of ganja. But the more he tries to get out, the more they are all pulled in. There is a special and discreet police force trying to get to the root cause of the ganja dealing in the city. They rope in Parvatheesam, the local cop, to investigate the man behind these dealings. Along the way, we see two senior officers, Venkat Rao and Ram Reddy, the drug lord Mohan Rao, a faceless dealer called Dhananjay, a college professor Govind, a transwoman and her lover Prasad.

Pravatheesam continues his quest until he is caught by Mohan Rao. Thereon, Pravtheesam’s intentions aren’t to find the drug lords and put them behind bars. The twisted realities bring him to twisted circumstances and he takes steps that he otherwise wouldn’t have thought of. This when the real drama begins to unfold and the characters really roll in. Towards the end of the second-last episode, we come to think of the reason behind a mere college professor being so important in the story. But hang in there. His motives have never been to help make his students better, there’s a plan bigger and older than that.

The drama gets intense as the time passes and in the final episode, it all fits together, making it a mind-blowing story. Director Bhargav effortlessly brings in connections that we hadn’t expected. The actors are a fresh bunch and do not disappoint. With little or no experience on-screen, they bring in their innocence and add more realness to the story. The 20-minute episodes do not seem boring or drag, because there is constantly so much to take in. A rare technique of using melancholic music over fast-paced scenes used in Kailasapuram keeps the viewers hooked.

You definitely cannot miss a story like this. Post this, check out the gripping thriller Ekkadiki Ee Parugu on ZEE5.