Niharika Konidela has teamed up with Disney Hotstar for a new web series, Dead Pixels, which was released on the OTT platform last night. Let’s see how it has turned out to be.
Story:
Dead Pixels is about four colleagues, who are obsessed with a game called Battle of Thrones, which they are very much eager to complete. They play the game all the time, even when they’re in the office. The four colleagues, Gayathri (Niharika), Bhargav (Akshay Lagusani), and Anand are joined by another new joiner, Roshan, who also gets interested in completing the game before the others. The rest of the story is about whether they all completed the game or not, and how Roshan changed everything.
On-Screen Performances:
The performances by the lead cast are impressive and good. Niharika does a good job with what she’s given, and so do the remaining actors. They are all committed to their characters and bring out those characters well enough.
Akshay Lagusani, Harsha, and Sai Ronak are all good enough in their roles and give good performances with what they’ve been given. The lead cast puts out the obsession that people have with games perfectly.
Bhavana Sagi, who is seen as Niharika’s friend in the series, has also given a good performance, and her scenes with Niharika, where she tries to put her friend on the right path have come out well.
There are a few comedy scenes here and there that are good. The scene featuring Akshay and Rajeev Kanakala came out well. The senior actor though seen briefly, makes his presence felt
The supporting cast, led by Rajeev Kanakala, is also good.
Off-Screen Talents:
The main drawback of Dead Pixels is that it doesn’t appeal to a larger audience, as it focuses only on those who play video and phone games and are obsessed with completing the game. Thus, Dead Pixels loses the interest of the general audience in the very beginning itself. The director has also not put in huge efforts in terms of the way he executed the series, as the series does the bare minimum to entertain the audience, and just goes on like that, at a very boring pace and with very less entertainment value. The only thing that is showcased throughout the series is the lead cast playing the game and being obsessed with it. There’s nothing else that takes place throughout the series, causing ultimate boredom. Another major flaw of the series is that there is absolutely no character development, and the characters are also dead from the very beginning to end, which makes the audiences disinterested in watching the series to completion.
Moreover, there is absolutely no emotion between the characters, causing the whole series to feel dead with any emotions at all. Emotions are highly important to get the audience interested, and with the lack of emotions, the series gets difficult to watch.
The production values of the film are good, the background music by Sidhartha Sadasivuni sounds monotonous, and the cinematography is just alright. The editing could have been much better.
Plus Points:
- Cast performances
Minus Points:
- Story
- Screenplay and pacing
- No character development
- Dead emotions
Verdict: Dead Pixels feels very much dead when it comes to the entertainment factor and has very less in terms of entertainment. It is a series that doesn’t deserve a lot of mention and can be happily skipped.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 1.75/5