TYPEWRITER REVIEW {2.5}: INDIA’S ATTEMPT TO CREATE A HORROR SERIES

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Sujoy Ghosh has thoroughly disappointed critics with his Netflix horror series, Typewriter. The story of a Ghost Club, consisting of three kids, who aim to catch ghosts sure sounds interesting. But is it? The portrayal of characters and videography has let down the critics.

Viewers were hoping for something great from Sujoy Ghosh, who has written and directed ‘Kahaaani’, a horror movie. But they were severely let down because his efforts in Typewriter seem half-hearted.

The Intriguing Plot of Typewriter

The series is set at Bardez Villa, Goa. It begins with Madhav Mathews (Kanwaljeet) writing his book ‘Ghost of Sultanpore’ on his typewriter back in 1984. Mathews was a successful story-writer, who was most popular for his horror works. He died on the night he was typing away on his typewriter, due to a heart attack. His last work being ‘Ghost of Sultanpore’. His death brought with it many theories among the residents of the city. His daughter Jenny, played by Palomi Ghosh, plays an important role in the story.

The plot then moves to current day Goa, where a band of three kids form the so called ‘Ghost Club’, led by Sameera (Aarna Sharma). They started noticing the unusual activity in the city since the return of a grown-up Jenny in Bardez Villa.

The little detectives work on catching the ghost of Bardez Villa. They recruit Jenny’s younger son in their band on their quest of ghost hunting. They travel cities to get information about the ghosts, and they uncover many mysteries with Ravi Anand (Purab Kohli) on their side.

The Effect on the Audience

The plot sounds quite interesting, doesn’t it? It surely will hold the audience’s attention. But it didn’t quite do that.

The secret for making a successful story is to show the development of characters in the story. But Typewriter focuses more on the plot. The director made sure to define ‘Horror’ for the audience rather than the story.

The plot-centred story makes the audience more frustrated than scared. The only characters the series does focus on are Ravi Anand, Sameera and, of course, the ghost. Which wasn’t appealing to the audience.

Typewriter has some characters just for the sake of comic relief. This was a wise move by the director, as the audience was losing interest in the movie as the story progressed. The comic relief proved to be the only entertainment for the audience.

Media claims Typewriter to be a poor attempt to remake Netflix superhit ‘Stranger Things’ in Indian settings. The characters do have similarities with a band of four kids working on supernatural happenings in the city, supported by a police officer. Some claim to notice similarities of the series with Famous Five by Enid Blyton.

Videography and Editing not at its Best

Critics could notice several technical faults in the story. The most noticeable one being obvious green screen work in two of the episodes. The scenes aren’t connected well either, probably because of ignorance on the editor’s part.

Shortening the length of episodes from 50 minutes to lower, would have made the series more attention catching for the audience. Despite the viewer warnings, its shocking how the series doesn’t shy away from showing blood and gore, with kids being the central characters.

The Netflix series has dissatisfied the audience. The plot was interesting, if not a remake of Stanger Things. The direction, characterisation, videography and editing suffered infinitely, making the audience displeased with it.

Sure, if you want to see a cute dog and a little girl taking command, you’re can go ahead and watch Typewriter.