Cast: Abhay Deol, Pankaj Kapoor, Rajesh Sharma, Ritika Anand, Rohit Basfore, Amrita Chattopadhyay

Director: Shailendra Vyas  

Rating: **1/2

Platform: SonyLIv

Have you seen Christopher Nolan's 'Interstellar'? Or Sushant Singh Rajput starrer Dibakar Banerjee's 'Detective Byomkesh Bakshi'? There is a difference of around six months in the release of both films. Well, JL50 is not related to any of these films but the crux of the web-series is not less than the plot of Christopher and Dibakar brilliant stories. Now think about those airplanes which have evidence of flying from airports but there is no information about landing anywhere. What would be your reaction if you find the exact plane after a gap of 35 years? An interesting theme right! Well, JL50 also presents an unusual incident of time travel.

The web-series is set on the drop back of Lava, West Bengal, India, and starts with Shantanu (Abhay Deol) a CBI officer who goes to investigate a plane crashed in northeast India and discovers that the crashed plane was flown out of Calcutta 35 years ago. Only two out of 40 people survived in an ill-fated plane, one of them is the pilot, a young woman (Ritika Anand) and another one is a mysterious man who had no business being in the cockpit when the aircraft went down. The crashed plane, JL 50, went 'missing' about 35 years ago on August 20, 1984, and its crash site has just been found in 2019. Meanwhile, the missing plane, AO 26, is seemingly hijacked by a radical communist group wanting to separate Bengal from the rest of India. The case of the crashed plane, and why it's so far away from its flight course is to be investigated by CBI's Shantanu (Abhay Deol) and his homegrown Watson, Gaurango (a permanently likeable Rajesh Sharma). Meanwhile, the hijackers of AO 26 are demanding the release of their leader from jail in exchange for the hostages.

CBI officer Shantanu along with Gaurango see the wreckage of JL 50, and discover that the one passenger who didn't board the plane, Prof. Das (Pankaj Kapur), lives in Kolkata and they start their investigation, and what happens next forms the crux of this series.

Written and directed by Shailendra Vyas, JL50 offers a fusion of Indian storytelling with science fiction. However, under the direction of Shailendra, several times the web-series execution fails quite often. Anyone can clearly spot the inconsistencies in the milieu, language, and accent adapted by the characters as they swing from the 1984s to 2019. Moreover about the storyline then the twists are also quite predictable, but well-explained by Vyas.

Talking about the brilliant performances from the entire cast, then Vyas cast one of the exceptional actors from the Hindi cinema. Abhay Deol fits perfectly in the series, his expression and curiosity to reveal the truth will swipe you along with his efforts of folding the time-travel myth.

Pankaj Kapoor Once again leaves a long-lasting impression with his acting. What goes on inside an innocent and lonely person, is perfectly portrayed by Pankaj. Especially the scene is worth seeing when he represses the country's mentality and delivers a speech where he said, "We refuse to accept what India has to offer, focussing instead on the 'mandir-masjid, Hindu-Muslim, Andhvishwas'. Focusing on the need for scientific temperament, he says, `If we spot an object in the sky, we fold our hands and begin worshipping it. We do not ask what, why, how?`

Well, except Abhay and Pankaj, the series also stars Piyush Mishra who effortlessly acted and leaves a mark with his undoubtedly sharp acting chops. Rajesh Sharma, Ritika Anand, Rohit Basfore, Amrita Chattopadhyay have also contributed their equal amount of hard work in the series by taking the time-travel story further.

One of the most underwhelming aspects of JL50 is its VFX as it totally looks childish when you see clouds through airplane windows or smoke coming out from a crashed airplane. Each and every graphical scene takes the soul of the series. Well, in an interview Abhay Deol also accepted that the VFX works were restrained due to the series budget.

Apart from this, the series was a bit slow with its storytelling pace. Sometimes, it distracts you with unnecessary plot-points. But despite all these points, the series is a great initiative by Shailendra Vyas in the sci-fi genre. The web-series is a compilation of 4 episodes of 30 minutes which follows an ups and downs graph. Yes, the epilogue of the film could have been thought a little better, although what is still there is the rewind button of your 'Sixth Sense'. So watch it if you are a fan of Christopher Nolan's kind of films which takes a bit part of your patience and sense.