One needs a very strong motivation to watch Human.
I had two - I had to review the script and secondly, my favourite Actor Shefali Shah stars in it. I have been a fan of her acting ever since her television days and after watching her nuanced performance as Vartika Chaturvedi in Delhi Crime, I was keen to watch her in another web series.
I don’t know what could be your reason.
Please note - watching the dungeon-like Drug Trial Camps can be very disturbing for some, especially given the current unrelenting pandemic situation.
How can a script be so ignorant of facts and take its viewers for granted, especially an OTT audience? A viewer who has the power to easily drop it in the very first 10 minutes of viewing.
THE LOGLINE
In the race to make the next money-spinning drug, saving lives takes a backseat and people become less than Human. Step into the murky world of drug trials.
The logline makes the central conflict clear to some extent but because it tells us nothing about the protagonist or the antagonist, it appears incomplete.
STORY IDEA and SCRIPT
The story isn’t something that we haven't seen before.
The human race is at stake. There is the demon-like bad person and the good, hero-like saviour. All hell will break and the saviour will save mankind.
Here the very Human, Saira Sabharwal is pitted against an almost inhuman, Gauri Nath.
The biggest flaw in the story is that both these characters - protagonist and antagonist are Doctors by profession.
Gauri Nath is a filthy rich, well-known Neurosurgeon, heads a multi-speciality Hospital Manthan and has other undercover operations too.
Saira is a well-known Heart surgeon
Except for a scene or two these two are never shown doing their job. They have all the time on earth for lunches, dinners, long chats, funerals, press conferences.
When do they perform surgeries or attend to their patients?
There is a complete lack of research or thought gone behind this expensive, indulgent misadventure. If only the writers would have researched how Neurosurgeons, Heart Surgeons or Doctors in general work. Maybe, they could have watched a few episodes of 'Grey's Anatomy.'
I am ignorant about the way drug trials are conducted but the manner in which they are depicted in this series is questionable.
Corrupt Politicians, Pharmaceutical companies and Doctors, each of them, are simply wanting a drug to be passed and sold in the market to supposedly make loads of money. But if a drug is not going to work eventually, how on earth is it going to be sold? What logic is this?
Gauri keeps mentioning a Revolution. What revolution is she talking about?
She is trying to get a drug in the market which doesn’t have any efficacy.
The show tries to depict two different worlds - one of the privileged and the other of the deprived. They are so disconnected that it almost looks like we are watching two parallel series. I am not sure if this was intentional.
Then, there is a third dystopic world that appears poorly inspired by 'The Handmaid’s Tale.'
The writer tries to create a web of dark, complex and flawed characters but somehow fails to make them relatable.
Gauri Nath’s pain of losing her son and not being able to do anything for him in spite of being a neurosurgeon comes too late in the series for the viewer to be invested in her. By then either you have given up on watching the series or you hardly care.
The reveals and backstories happen too late and the resolution too fast. The conflict becomes inconspicuous.
SCREENPLAY
The screenplay lacks cohesion and each episode is a drag. None of the dialogues leaves a mark, they are just below average.
Episode 6 suddenly starts with a voice-over by Gauri Nath and we are given a glimpse of her past and reasons for her being what she is today.
This should have been the first episode.
The dialogues literally have long pauses that make the narrative slow and the episodes a drag. Especially the manner in which Gauri Nath’s character speaks. It is an effort to create a certain kind of intimidating aura but one may lose patience after a while and want her to complete her lines faster.
The final episode is around 54 minutes long and with 10 episodes in all, the entire screenplay is over 50 pages longer than it could have been.
CHARACTER ARC
Dr. Gauri Nath
Her arc from Pinky Jatav to The Gauri Nath could have been so amazing, gripping and thrilling but it remains as hollow as her aspirations. Neither can you appreciate her excellence as a neurosurgeon nor can you connect to the inhuman menacing havoc she wrecks on poor helpless people.
I feel the character was never properly developed on paper.
The actor’s par excellence talent, too, cannot make it believable.
Dr. Saira Sabharwal
Saira, too, is flawed like Gauri but unfortunately, her arc fades away in trying to make Gauri appear powerful. The result is neither of them works. This character appears to be inspired by the character of Karan Mehra from 'Made in Heaven'
Roma - I don’t understand her. If you do, please let me know in the comments section. I could only think of her as Danny Dyer ( played by Dan Dhanoa) in Manmohan Desai’s MARD or Aunt Lydia from 'The Handmaid’s tale.'
Mangu - Mangu’s character is written well but the presentation of this character in form of appearance and nuances is overdone. Appears fake.
Why is Raghav’s character in the story?
THE PLOT-HOLES
Why Gauri has brought Saira to Manthan and from where?
Why does Saira overreact when her husband, Neil comes back after six months? From her point of view, her annoyance is justified but Neil isn’t aware of her truth and a few scenes ago we have seen them interacting very lovingly over a video chat. So why doesn’t Neil immediately react to her annoyance?
Why do you show in overlay who is calling on the phone? We can see the character on screen, we are not dumb.
Why is Roma doing all that she is doing?
Why are the surgeons never busy? Why is there never any sense of urgency or emergency in Manthan or in the body language of the doctors while they are in Manthan?
Why does Dr. Vivek Shekhawat, a reckless doctor, wait at a signal even when the roads were empty and he is in kind of an urgent situation. Simply to get killed. How convenient!
Vivek’s wife cries and tells her father that it cannot be a drink and drive accident because Vivek always knew how much to drink? She is contradicting her own statement.
Why does Roma narrate Gauri’s story to Gauri to make her forget it? Was it for Gauri or us?
Why is Gauri’s son beatboxing?
Fine! So that his father, Pratap Munjal, can tell him, “Abhay you are so bloody intelligent.” while Abhay puffs away bud.
Why do the goons who accidentally kill Vivek suddenly disappear instead of continuing to chase Mangu?
Why is Sulochna Bua’s character so neglected? For quite some time we are left wondering “Who the hell is she?”
Why no one is wearing masks if the story is set in the current time period? It is evident from one of the dialogues that 37 years have elapsed after the Bhopal Gas tragedy. So the story is set in 2021. Also, there is a mention of the current COVID pandemic.
Why is the entire Drug trial dependent on one caricaturist tapori character, Bablu?
Why are practically all main doctors at Neil’s funeral at the same time? Wonder how Manthan works.
The Kingdom of Bhopal was ruled by women - This analogy is fine but Why is Mr. Ahuja telling it randomly to Dr. Saira?
Why does Dr. Gauri Nath never try visiting a Psychiatrist considering that she is a doctor and she could have easily afforded the best?
Why not a single staff member notices Gauri’s physical incapacity when she visits the hospital in a stoned state? Wasn’t it also very unprofessional and negligent behaviour on her part?
BEST SCENE
Gauri Nath’s breakdown scene at her son’s altar is the best scene in the entire long ordeal called HUMAN.
The actor’s supreme command of her craft is clearly visible and one feels how this talent remains untapped in the rest of the series or should we say, taken for granted.
A performance can only rise as tall as the written word.
WORST SCENE
A number of them can qualify for this but the scene where Deepali is punished is unnecessarily gruesome.
Of course, the vomiting and urinating scenes may also be added to the list.
ON THE SCRIPTOMETER
It is out and out a BAD SCRIPT and even good actors cannot scale it to becoming average.
NOZZER PARDIWALA
*Since I review the film from the perspective of the SCRIPT alone, I may not comment on the acting, music, and other aspects of the film, however exceptional they may be.
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