Falls short of impressive
Topless is a new web series from ZEE5 which is available in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu. Produced by K.S. Sinesh under the Soldiers Factory banner, it is a crime drama with many twists and turns.
Story
The plot follows a heist for the most valuable painting of the 1920’s. The story revolves around many characters starting with a British woman, Helena (Basak Gazler Prasad), who is hell bent on getting her hands on this rare artwork.
There is also a ruthless politician, Kalki (Guru Somasundaram), whose father is in desperate need of the same painting. Therefore, he accedes to his father’s wishes and deploys his men to get the painting by any means possible.
Five individuals with eccentric code names, Left (Antony Felix), Right (Geevee), Straight (Gokul Anand), Base (Rohith Muralidharan) and their leader Top (Harish Uthaman) who want to become rich overnight, devise their own malicious plans.
They, along with Helena’s guide Arputham (Regin Rose), hatch a plan to rob her of the money she carries in her car. Unfortunately, they hit a ‘roadblock’ in the middle of their mission. To make things worse, they end up in more trouble with no other option left, except to steal the painting.
The situation gets more complex as twin brothers David and Johnny (Arun Alexander) also join the hot pursuit for the same painting. Who wins this wild goose chase and gets the painting is a mystery.
Performances
Gururaj Somasundram who makes his digital debut as a cold hearted politician Kalki is at his best. Other artists also put forth noteworthy performances to uplift this crime drama with some exciting moments.
Positives
Sanmargan and Dinesh Mohan’s story has got all the elements to make Topless an edge of the seat thriller.
Jomin’s editing with a cause and effect narration is commendable. Viswesh and Vishal Vijayan’s cinematography is decent and the title music by Amrit Rao is quite catchy.
Negatives
The main drawback of this series lies in the loosely knitted screenplay which should have been more gripping to facilitate an effective presentation. The narration takes a dip due to poor screenplay as the series progresses.
The buzz and brilliance evident in initial episodes goes adrift in the later ones. There are some illogical and nondescript scenes which turn Topless into an unimpressive show.
Worth it?
It’s worth a watch for the concept and great editing but overall, has nothing special to offer.
