School of Lies review: Nimrat Kaur's show is both arresting and on auto-pilot

Cast: Nimrat Kaur, Aamir Bashir, Sonali Kulkarni, Varin Roopani

Director: Avinash Arun

Language: Hindi

Thrillers in Hindi film landscape or now on OTT often choose a tense atmosphere and hushed tones to create a supposed chilling effect. That’s what Avinash Arun does in his show School Of Lies, starring Nimrat Kaur, Aamir Bashir, Sonali Kulkarni, Varin Roopani in crucial roles. It’s about a child that has gone missing and all the events that follow are inspired by true events as claimed by the makers. So far so good.

The narrative is promisingly tense but the performances are unfortunately all auto-pilot. Emote less to thrill more seems to be the funda of makers to create palpable, atmospheric tension. Also, the gloominess of the fictional town the series is based in begins to feel dull and soulless after a point. The set-up took me to Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani 2, where a curious woman wanted to dig deep into the trauma a child was suffering from. Here, Kaur, a fine and competent actor, who keeps her performance restrained, does that. She’s too adamant to know where the child she disappeared and what has happened. Aamir Bashir is also here, an actor I’ve always enjoyed since Armaan (2003).

The kids are mercifully not precocious and behave how they should. As the title suggests, School of Lies is about a boarding school that hides a lot of truths and there’s a lot more than what meets the eye. The show is part-arresting and part-auto pilot. Adding more layers to performances and colour to the palette would’ve done no harm to the overall effect and narrative. But it’s okay, let’s not complaint so much.

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