While life teems with noise, JioHotstar’s Search: The Naina Murder Case, helmed by Rohan Sippy, comes with a cold, computed hush of a scalpel slicing through silk. With its unrelaxed narrative and moral fog, the series doesn’t simply crack a murder—it dismantles glosses, one mask at a time. Rohan Sippy steers this psychological maze with remarkable fetter, allowing tension to accumulate in silence, in glances, in the loaded pauses between truths.
As we navigate, we see a brutal, almost clinical murder of young Naina—a tragedy that ripples outward, stirring political machinations, domestic unrest, and teenage reckonings. Konkona Sensharma’s Sanyukta is superbly still, almost glacial in her forensic focus. She doesn’t chase emotions; she dissects them. But it’s in the chaos around her that the show finds its real fire.
Shraddha Das, as Raksha, brings an electrified presence to the screen with her sharp instincts. She’s one of the few who seems to know exactly how the game is played and refuses to play it quietly. Equally moving is Atiya Nayak’s Lavanya, in the process, as you watch, you see how the character blossoms the script even more and in intricate possibilities.
The ensemble cast lends depth to the narrative with lived-in precision. Surya Sharma brings a rugged volatility to Jai, the cocky new recruit and reluctant partner to Sanyukta. Shiv Panditt as Tushar, the embattled politician, cloaks ambition in quiet anguish. Mukul Chadda (Bheesham), Pari Tonk (Mahi), Govind Namdeo (Pradeep), Dhruv Sehgal (Sahil), Naved Aslam (Rathi), and Varun Thakur (Randhir) add texture to the sprawling world, while Kabir Kachroo (Ojas), Anmol Rawat (Aarav), Irawati Mayadev (Payal), and Sagar Deshmukh (Uddhav) shape the emotional terrain of grief, guilt, and guarded secrets. Chandsi Kataria, as the ill-fated Naina, leaves an imprint despite her fleeting presence.
The series excels not only in its performances but also in its structure. It respects the intelligence of its audience, layering timelines and motives without spoon-feeding outcomes. The script, penned by Shreya Karunakaran and Radhika Anand, weaves political ambition, adolescent angst, and familial strain into a gripping, slow-burning investigation. And though the cliffhanger may frustrate, it’s a blow to how much the show makes you care.
Search: The Naina Murder Case, produced by Applause Entertainment and Highgate Entertainment, earns your eyes, episode by episode. This is storytelling that trusts silence, trusts complexity, and above all, trusts its women to lead the charge through the darkness.
IWMBuzz rates it 3.5/5 stars.
