Radhika Apte in a still from Ghoul (Courtesy Netflix) Highlights "We pre-choreographed everything," said Radhika Apte "We had military training to understand how things work," Radhika added Radhika plays the role of Nida Rahim in Ghoul After the "overwhelming" success of Sacred Games, Radhika Apte features in Netflix's Ghoul, which released on Friday. Radhika said that for her role in the web series, she went through lot of rehearsals and even took military training, news agency PTI reported. "We did a lot of rehearsals. We had one-on-one sessions and group rehearsals on interpersonal relationships and politics amongst the characters. We pre-choreographed everything. We had some military training to understand how things work, the basic instructions and the hierarchy in the system and how to use and hold weapons," the 32-year-old actor told PTI. Radhika plays the role of Nida Rahim, one of the interrogators of the remote military interrogation centre. Ali Saeed, who has been captured and brought to the interrogation centre is no ordinary prisoner. Saeed has some supernatural powers, which will make Nida's task more difficult. Ghoul also stars Manav Kaul. Meanwhile, Radhika Apte's Netflix web series Sacred Games received phenomenal response from the viewers. Speaking about the "overwhelming" response, Radhika Apte told PTI: "I was not surprised but happy. I was so overwhelmed. I knew that this will be liked because I knew the efforts that have gone in making this show. These guys have worked on it for months." "Netflix was associated with it. They are very particular about quality. So, I knew it would be good but I never thought that it would become such a quick massive outrage. So I was very happy," she added. Radhika Apte was also seen in Netflix anthology Lust Stories. She featured in the segment directed by Anurag Kaashyap.<doc-sep>Caption: Radhika apte in a still from Ghoul. (Image courtesy: YouTube) Cast: Radhika Apte, Manav Kaul, Ratnabali Bhattacharjee, Mahesh Balraj, Mallhar Goenka Director:Patrick Graham Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5) Invoking the spirit of George A. Romero, John Carpenter and other boundary-pushing scream-fest mavericks and drawing inspiration from the darkest depths of Arabic folklore, Ghoul, writer-director Patrick Graham's Netflix Original miniseries, puts a vigorous revisionist spin on horror movie tropes and widens their scope appreciably. The novelty factor of the three-episode series rests primarily on its 'near future' setting in which "the country has changed and sectarian violence has reached crisis point". This is a place, period and milieu that Bollywood flicks of the genre have never ever forayed into. Ghoul, in essence, hinges on an evil, flesh-devouring spirit out to wreak vengeance on those that have blood on their hands. Hence it has its share of shockingly gory, genuinely scary sequences amplified by Jay Oza's camerawork and Benedict Taylor and Naren Chandavarkar's background score. But there is much more to the narrative than the mere impulse to elicit screams. The political and the horrific are two sides of the same coin in Ghoul - one bleeds into the other without leaving any obvious traces. A police state that gnaws at the souls of its subjects is no different from a ghoul that feasts on of its guilt-ridden victims. Bolstered by acting of the highest quality, Ghoul paints a portrait of unbridled brutality in a nation where a military clampdown is in effect and civil rights are trampled upon daily by a rising tide of nationalist frenzy. The government thrives on instilling fear and suspicion in the minds of the people, especially those that do not fall in line. Netflix's Ghoul Review: A still from the miniseries. (Image courtesy: YouTube) The strokes Episode 1 employs in order to etch out the contours of the divide between the rulers and the rebels might appear too broad and somewhat lacking in subtlety, but once Ghoul enters twilight zone, it acquires a convincing life and logic of its own. It stares blood, death and nightmares in the face while presenting a compelling cautionary tale that isn't obviously for the faint-hearted. Jointly produced by Blumhouse Productions (Get Out, Insidious), Ivanhoe Pictures (The Wailing, Crazy Rich Asians) and India's Phantom Films, Ghoul is fearless in its evocation of a time in history - it may not be all that far away, the script warns - when a fascist regime has let its army and other security agencies loose on its people. Free thought and speech are crushed and every member of the nation's principal minority community is treated as dangerous unless he or she can prove otherwise. Ghoul is a subversive horror tale that places a majoritarian state at the centre of the plot and then proceeds to explore the themes of political tyranny, betrayal, guilt and revenge through the unsettling goings-on in a secret detention centre set up for elements suspected of waging war against the government of the day. Netflix's Ghoul Review: A still from the miniseries. (Image courtesy: YouTube) It is a time when books are branded seditious and burned, universities are closed down and teachers are ordered to adhere to government-approved syllabi. One activist-professor, Shahnawaz Rahim (S.M. Zaheer), crosses the line repeatedly because he believes it is his constitutional right. He is unable to fathom the enormity of the risk he faces from those whose diktats he flouts. It is his own daughter, Nida Rahim (Radhika Apte), a trainee soldier at the National Protection Squad's academy, who snitches on him. She believes a bit of 'reconditioning' will do her father no harm. For her brave act in the line of duty, Nida becomes an overnight role model, an emblem of patriotic righteousness. Netflix's Ghoul Review: A still from the miniseries. (Image courtesy: YouTube) So five weeks shy of her completing her course in advanced interrogation techniques, she is inducted into a detention centre headed by Lieutenant Colonel Sunil Dacunha (Manav Kaul), a decorated war hero single-minded in the pursuit of his authoritarian government's interests. He is a 'patriot' and nothing, not even the entreaties of his wife and daughter, can stop him from turning his back on his own life and devoting all his time and energy to serving the nation. Dacunha is just the kind of guy who would tar all dissent with the same brush. In the line of his unrelenting fire are "student protesters, opposition leaders, religious fanatics, dangerous anti-nationals". The cupboard in his office brims with confessional audio-tapes of his detainees, which he proudly displays to the new recruit who has earned her stripes by proving her nationalism beyond doubt by exposing her father's deeds. A new prisoner, a dreaded terrorist and mastermind behind many deadly attacks across the country, is brought in for interrogation. Nida is deployed as part the team that will have first go at this man, Ali Saeed Al Yacoub (Mahesh Balraj), leader of the militant United People's Front. But matters take a deadly turn and spin out of control. Saeed isn't who, or what, he seems to be. Nida flags that to her bosses, including Major Laxmi Das (Ratnabali Bhattacharjee), the toughest of the interrogators and one who makes no bones about her doubts over Nida's true intentions, but they do not take her seriously until it is too late. The result is blood-splattered mayhem that rises to a frightening crescendo in Episode 3. The impressively consistent performances from the lead players add depth and solidity to the series. Radhika Apte plays a tormented, conflicted soul as only she can - in a manner that is both deeply affecting and disquieting. It is a role that is both emotional and physical - she stays on top of its demands all the way through. Manav Kaul is as self-assured as ever, fleshing out a chilling portrait of a ruthless interrogator and executioner. Ratnabali Bhattacharjee, too, stands out in the role of a woman in army fatigues whose sense of right and wrong has been deadened.<doc-sep>Ghoul Cast: Radhika Apte, Manav Kaul Director: Patrick Graham A bit of The Conjuring and a tinge of Insidious, Ghoul has things that you have seen before, but it still entices you, lures into an eerie world and leaves you speechless. As audience, we are habitual of watching disfigured ghosts and half-burnt witches, thanks to Ramsay Brothers. Even Vikram Bhatt didn’t explore much beyond it. His ghosts preferred traditional Indian clothes, but were very basic in nature. Ghoul is very different in this regard as it focuses more on symbols than action. In the show, an authoritarian regime is hell bent on redefining the term ‘terrorism’. There is a defined syllabus and anything beyond it is considered anti-national. Nida Rahim (Radhika Apte) works with the Special Investigation Team and is responsible for foiling the terrorist activities. She doesn’t even spare her own professor father in the line of duty. She gets posted on a secret military interrogation center where she meets military chief Rahul Dacuna. After a day of Nida’s posting, the unit receives a special prisoner – Ali Saeed (Mahesh Balraj). He is about to be interrogated, but the only catch is that Ali is not human. He is a ghoul! More than a horror series, Ghoul is a satire on the current state of proceedings. From mob lynching to defining nationalism, it raises many pertinent questions. The beauty of it is that it doesn’t take names. The puns are not complicated either, so everyone will get it. Director Patrick Graham is completely in charge of the situation, but one can easily see Vikramaditya Motwane’s impression on Ghoul. Radhika Apte is present in almost every frame and that may irritate you after a while. She is right on money though. Manav Kaul’s military chief is quiet, humble and introvert, and that’s what creates the magic. A military personnel with a different outlook adds freshness to the story. Ghoul’s Surprise packages are Mahesh Balraj and Ratna Bali Bhattacharjee. Platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime have given a lease of life to these actors. Ghoul might not be the best horror series around, but this is definitely an innovative one. Despite predictability, this demands your attention. Rating: 3.5/5<doc-sep>Ghoul starring Radhika Apte is set in a dystopian world where citizens are under surveillance at all times. Ghoul starring Radhika Apte is set in a dystopian world where citizens are under surveillance at all times. After the positive reception of Lust Stories and Sacred Games, Ghoul, starring Radhika Apte and Manav Kaul, is going to be another feather in Netflix’s hat. Ghoul is a horror thriller but here the horror element goes past the ghosts and the spirits. The horror in Ghoul comes from its setting, the dystopian world where the government keeps a keen eye on the actions of its citizens. Anyone who dares to raise their voice is silenced and all those who follow blindly the orders of the establishment have a chance at survival. Indianexpress.com asked Radhika Apte if it scares her as this dystopia could one day become our reality and she candidly said that it wasn’t too difficult to imagine. “It is not too difficult to imagine that world as in a way it is our current state of affairs. There are parts of it you can see it around us. You can see that sort of extremism in so many things. Not just when it comes to religion but on so many levels in the society, everybody is not so tolerant,” she said. Also Read | Ghoul director Patrick Graham: We don’t intend to offend people Elaborating further on the same, Radhika explained, “They are not compassionate enough to accept other people’s points of view. They want to label themselves, other people and just want to fight. And I think that was there decades ago as well. So it’s quite relevant to any time or any place in the world and any subject matter, not necessarily religion.” Also Read | Ghoul review: This Netflix series is unnerving because it is unafraid Producer Vikramaditya Motwane too chimed in about the dystopian world they have created with Ghoul and said, “Ghoul is talking about what would happen in a dystopian world if this was happening anywhere in the world. I don’t think it’s specific to India, it would be the same thing if it was happening in the US as well. Nationalism is on the rise everywhere in the world.” Talking about the creation of the dystopian world. Motwane credited some of the classics. “I think it’s very inspired from books. If it’s 1984, or it’s Fahrenheit 451, there is a sense of a surveillance state. It is a very literature-based thing, which is not unusual. It’s not like we did anything new.”<doc-sep>
Radhika Apte stars as army officer Nida Rahim in Netflix’s Ghoul Radhika Apte stars as army officer Nida Rahim in Netflix’s Ghoul When someone mentions the word “Horror”, I immediately associate it with Ramsay Brothers, who were popular for producing movies like Purana Mandir, Darwaza and Bandh Darwaza, and of course, the television series the Zee Horror Show. The Indian brand of horror has been a blend of sleazy and scary (and I use ‘scary’ very loosely here) for the longest time. Here’s looking at you, Vikram Bhatt. But Netflix India’s second original series Ghoul hopefully marks a new innings for horror here. A three-part series, Ghoul is produced by Anurag Kashyap’s Phantom Films and American production house Blumhouse Productions. For Blumhouse, which has backed films like the Oscar-nominated Get Out and Paranormal Activity, showing interest in bankrolling an Indian horror series is telling. Something does beckon once you sit down to watch the series. A sense of discomfort and eerie crawl out from the confines of the screen and makes its way to your head. The pilot introduces us to Nida Rahim, played by Radhika Apte, who wonderfully downplays the horror of it all. Radhika as Nida goes through phases of fear – the fear that her father (played by the skillful SM Zaheer) might be branded an anti-national, the fear of losing her father, the fear of not being loyal to her nation and her duty, the fear of her nightmares, and of course the almost tangible fear of the ghoul itself. As she is the protagonist, the camera captures her movements closely, and there are quite a few close-up shots of the actor, in those moments director Patrick Graham raises his hat to the fashion in which horror cinema has been shot for decades. Set in the dystopian future, Ghoul’s primary plot revolves around army officer Nida Rahim, who is called upon to help in a special mission, to help interrogate and break terrorist Ali Saeed. Nida is an independent, unafraid woman who believes in only carrying out her duties, in fact, she is so conscientious that she barely hesitates in delivering her father to the government after discovering that he is teaching his students to ask questions and is instructing them in ‘seditious literature.’ She then makes her way to Meghdoot 31–interestingly, ‘Meghdoot,’ which literally means ‘cloud messenger’ was the code name given to the Indian army during the Siachen conflict, which hints what Nida is about to face is akin to capturing a glacier, just as monumental. She soon faces the ghoul along with her colleagues, and what happens next forms the rest of the narrative. The atmosphere of Meghdoot 31 and the world of Ghoul is reminiscent of Orwell’s dystopian works and HBO’s recently released Fahrenheit 451, based on the book of the same name by Ray Bradbury. Meghdoot 31 is an army base that sees no daylight, literally and metaphorically. The windows of the building are tinted so that convicts are trapped into the recesses of their own brains. Nida, at one point, is seen scratching away at one of the covers of a window. “Mujhe laga bahar dhoop hogi,” she says after managing a peep outside (I was hoping for sunshine). And of course, it was raining heavily, adding to the overall sense of gloom and dread. Ghoul is a relevant, atmospheric drama that fuses the myth and the ‘real’ with a cast that gives credible performances. Manav Kaul as Colonel Sunil Dacunha and Ratnabali Bhattacharjee as interrogating officer Laxmi inhabit their characters like second skins. However, it is Radhika Apte who carries the series on her able shoulders with her delicately-drawn act as a woman trying her best to be at the top of a situation.