High review: A web series high on substance

Could there be a ‘wonder drug’ to save the world from its doom? That is what the MX player’s new series “High” revolves around with a search and a momentous discovery, and its far-reaching consequences, spread over a few decades, and an assortment of colourful, interested parties.

Directed by Nikhil Rao and having Akshay Oberoi in the lead role as the good-hearted druggie, who fetches up with an underground group (Prakash Belawadi, Nakul Bhalla, Shweta Basu Prasad) which is busy stirring up a potion agile enough to modify everything. For the other side is a ruthless archetypal of Evil Pharma, and her trigger-happy associate (Ranvir Shorey), plus several dealers, goons and mobsters. Adding on are a few citizens to give us a break from all the gunfire, snorting, and the spraying of bullets.

The series creates an atmosphere for its viewers with a characteristic colour palette: the flashbacks from the early 70s in black and white and the uncompromising group on the trail of a magic plant vagabonds around dense jungles. Present-day settings ranging from TV studios to rehab centres to the hide-outs to nightclubs and raves where ‘bad things’ happen, and villains’ dens.

Given that ‘maal’ is so much of a hot topic these days, High is topical. The series completes its portrait of criminality by mixing dirty low life of the streets with the misleading dazzling arena of corporate avarice. The show is a trip on the fun side never missing out on raw realism tagging some extra topicality to it, perhaps, at a time when the ‘high' life threatens to usher a low-slung phase for many in Bollywood.