SP Sara’s efficiency perpetually undermined by her corrupt and lazy subordinates sets the scene for the murder mystery where everyone’s a suspect and no one is coming clean.
Why Serial Killer Has Our Attention?
Serial Killer is sticking to the assignment and has understood it like the student who approaches an exam with full knowledge of his subject. Crime thrillers are not every creator’s cup of tea.
Moreover, the Pakistani drama scene has witnessed family focused narratives, spiritual stories and now, even social media and genres that focus on our lifestyle depictions, but what was missing, noticeable in its absence, was a healthy dose of impactful, well researched crime thrillers that could grip audiences as they felt they were very much a part of the guessing game.
The recent influx of crime thrillers on multiple OTT platforms especially Netflix, had certainly added to the audience interest in this genre. And Green Entertainment had certainly taken the cue.
That is not to say that previous stories, eg Jurm, Gunnah and Gumn did not promote the idea that this is, in fact, a viable alternative to stories on saas-bahu conspiracies and extra marital affairs but Serial Killer has taken it a notch higher by walking the viewer through an intricate line of investigation manifested in the character of SP Sarah played by none other than Saba Qamar who drives a tough bargain and leaves no stone unturned to hunt down her culprit.
Attention To Detail
The creators respect the nature of the genre at hand and that is evident from the get go. From forensics testing, finger printing, audio records of suspects and looking beyond the obvious, the script navigates the crime with great scrutiny, so that it is hard for viewers to call out the investigation as slipshod or lazy.
What is lazy is the very true to life injection of police subordinates who continue to undermine the investigation due to their diehard cultural conditioning of taking bribes, passing the buck and assisting a female boss in investigating a crime in a male-dominated crime world.
The frustration Sarah feels when they fail to check all the boxes, her burning desire to nail the culprit (and the right one), managing an errant police force, is a monumental challenge in itself.
And her sense of urgency and speed to solve the case is aptly portrayed and transferred to audiences who are equally intrigued to discover how she’ll get to her prey eventually, and who, in fact, is the real killer?
Performances
Saba Qamar impresses as usual as she plays it subtle. Her guarded expressions, exasperation at the slow pace of inquiry and subsequent oversights are well captured.
Fahad Hashmi has come a way since his days of Jo Bichar Gaye and we’re enjoying this representation of corrupt, not very clever, police officer who’d rather take it easy than score a win at his job. Ahmed Randhawa facilitates the process and nicely adds a mix of comic to the screenplay.
Equally on point are accompanying performances with Faiza Gillani and Alee Hassan slipping into character. Faiza as Barbara impresses on first impact as the salon owner, her high-heeled walk to the police station spoke a thousand words.
Alee Hassan smoothly underplays Nasir, acting nonchalant and confident in one go.
The ensemble cast can really make or break a story and here, the casting by Fahad Noor has certainly made it happen for the drama.
Direction and Script
A well-knit script by Umera Ahmed speaks volumes for the quality of a well researched narrative. Add to that, sharp editing, real feel frames and cleverly angled closeups to catch just a hint of a guarded expression, the thing most crime thrillers are made of, garners respect for the makers and their commitment to giving Pakistani drama audiences a thrilling watch steeped in intrigue and mystery!
Well done Serial Killer, we can’t wait for episode next and finally….the ultimate question… who really did it?
For that, we’ll have to keep watching!
Step into the chilling world of Serial Killer, a gripping murder mystery written by the talented Umera Ahmed. Directed by Fahad Noor and produced by Misbah Shafique. The cast features Saba Qamar, Sabeena Farooq, Danial Raheel, Faiza Gillani, Amna Malik, Shah Fahad, Ahmed Randhawa, Fahad Hashmi, Ali Hasan, and Sarmad Aftab Jadran.
