Cast: Karanvir Bohra, Sudhanshu Pandey, Mandana Karimi, Aindrita Ray, Mantra

Ratings: *1/2

The casino, the series in the first venture of Hardik Gajjar on the digital platform Zee 5 is about to acquire the ownership of a Casino, the biggest casino in Nepal. The crime thriller is about that Casino and the power play that unfolds to acquire the ownership rights of the multi-million dollar business.

The show follows Rehana, a Casino dancer and a seductress, Mr Marwaha and a powerful shrewd businessman out to protect the casino at any cost and Vicky Marwa, the successor to his dad's multi-billion-dollar Casino and the struggle that goes around for it.

While the show is about Nepal's biggest casino, we hardly get to see it. Instead, we are introduced to characters family, the power dynamics of the city,= and the star dancer of the casino. The beauty of locations, gambling and everything else seems to be fake and imaginary. The director has clearly disappointed the audience with its poor writing & narration.

While Sudhanshu Pandey does his best to keep a straight face with the tacky dialogues, he has tried his best to outshine the role but poor writing & dialogues won't let it happen. Karanvir Singh Bohra does a little justice to his character, although at some points he seems a bit over. Only Mantra comes as a surprise because his emotions, facial expressions, timing everything on point and works in his favour.

Mandana Karimi manages to look beautiful and charming, she has an accent and we are all for it because that is her natural layer. The only thing that saves her performance is her looks, she looks sizzling in every avatar. Aindrita Ray looks beautiful and cute but fails to act.

The storyline is the same old formulae, with the same old trick and to further dismay even the twists. The Casino's casting director deserves no mention. If you are going to tell us 45-year-old chiselled Sudhanshu Pandey is father to 37-year-old Karanvir Bohra, the joke is on you.

The only good thing in the series is the music. The track sung by Sunidhi Chauhan is just fabulous. Due to good music, even some scenes were looking pretty sharp and beautiful.

Overall, The casino is no less than an old Bollywood movie where a keeper is a villain. Nothing refreshing about the story, even performances are dull, so KV's fans can watch it ones but others can't.