Breathe is an Amazon Prime original series that’s going to be unveiled on January 26. It was a great pleasure to binge-watch its first 4 episodes on the big screen, courtesy the #JioMAMIFilmClub! Breathe is the story of a father whose son is terminally ill and how he decides to move heaven and earth to save his life. The first episode starts with a bang and even the opening credits are brilliant and appealing. No time is wasted in introducing the characters and director Mayank Sharma comes straight to the point. Episode 1 ends on a high note while Episode 2 is even better. The pace sadly drops in Episode 3. But with Episode 4, the narrative picks up again and it ends on an unexpected point, making me eager to know what happens next. R Madhavan packs in a solid performance, different from what he has attempted in Bollywood before. Amit Sadh wins hands down. He plays a very challenging part and doesn’t speak much but his expressions and his nods do most of the talking and that’s great! Sapna Pabbi gives a decent performance and hope to see her character having more meat in the next four episodes. Hrishikesh Joshi (Prakash Kamble) is hilarious and does very well. Shriswara (Dr Aruna Sharma), who left a mark in D Day, does a fine job. Jayashree Venketaramanan (Anita Sahani) has a small role but gets to play one of the most memorable characters. Gyan Prakash (Sudhir Verma) is highly convincing. Neena Kulkarni (Juliet Mascarenhas) is decent while Atharva Vishwakarma (Josh) is sweet. Chetan Chitnis (Rahul Pradhan) is okay. Kali Prasad Mukherjee (Shankar Patil) and Ajit Bhure (Nilesh Mohite) are fine. Alokananda Dasgupta’s music is exhilarating. S. Bharathwaaj‘s cinematography is neat and also edgy at places. Sumeet Kotian‘s editing is slick. All in all, the first 4 episodes of Breathe are quite thrilling and here’s hoping the next four episodes are also as entertaining!
My rating – **** out of 5!