Janaawar (The Beast Within): A hard-hitting tale of caste identity and crime

Janaawar directed by Sachindar Vats uses the framework of a murder mystery to explore the deep-rooted theme of caste prejudice faced by its central protagonist. The internal battles of Bhuvan Arora’s Hemanth gives the show some of its best moments. The atmospherics have a rooted feel making Janaawar one of the best shows in 2025. Sachindra Vats along with his fellow writers do absolute justice to the tagline

Starcast: Bhuvan Arora, Dheeksha K Sonalkar, Bhagwan Tiwari, Badrul Islam and others

Genre: Crime

Director: Sachindar Vats

Screenplay: Shreyas Lowelkar

Music: Sreejith Edavana

Cinematography: Rahul Nayak

Producers: Abhishek Rege, Harish Shah and Dinesh Khetann

Production Company: Aarambh Entertainment

No of episodes: 7

Streaming site: Zee 5

Sachindra Vats Janaawar (The Beast Within) is a perfect example of how to blend crime with powerful social commentary. The web series starts off as a regular whodunit but as the show progresses different layers come out. The struggles of Hemanth in balancing his duties as a husband and cop while dealing with his own caste identity adds an important layer. This angle uplifts the show significantly.

Without giving much away the storyline of Janaawar is set in a fictional town of Chhaand (Chhattisgarh) and follows the journey of sub inspector Hemanth (Bhuvan Arora). In the beginning episodes the wife shown to be pregnant. Hemanth has applied for a week long leave to take care of her. But a highly decomposed dead body in a deep forest cuts short Hemanth Plans. At the same time a local MLA lands up at the police station to report a case about his missing brother. To further compound the mystery the head of the decomposed body goes missing before it can be sent for forensics. This is the story in brief.

A strong aspect of Janaawar are its atmospherics. Even before the murder mystery kicks in an air of dread is palpable. A major reason for that is the cinematography and the score. Rahul Nayak does a very fine job in capturing the tense atmosphere through his lens especially the portions set in forest. The eerie nights will give chills to the viewers.

At the same time Sreejith Edvana’s score is suitably ominous amplifying the mystery. It perfectly complements the murder mystery investigation going Parrell with Hemanth’s personal life.

Mention must also be made of the scenes featuring Bhuvan Arora and Dheeksha Sonalkar. The husband-and-wife scenes are few, but they are filled with lot of warmth. It shows a different facet to Hemanth a caring husband. Although Hemanth is a sub inspector there is no getting away from his caste identity. This discrimination has come out well on numerous occasions.

While the murder mystery is going on the show also dwells into the power structure. This is brought through the roles of Hemanth’s senior officer and an MLA (Atul Kale and Alok Mishra). These characters aren’t just part of the crime narrative but a larger reflection of the social dynamics in that particular place.

The twists and turns are also solid even though things do get convoluted in the mid portions. The suspicion of who has done it and the reasons behind it keeps the viewers guessing. The ultimate revelation does complete justice to the show’s tagline which is how society and circumstances bring out both the good and bad within us.

The performances headed by Bhuvan Arora are solid. The role of Hemath is very different from what Bhuvan Arora has done so far, and the actor does complete justice to it. He portrays the different shades with finesse. A special mention must be made of the scenes where Hemanth talks about his caste identity and how in spite of a being a sub inspector nothing much has changed. As the wife Dheekha Sonalkar is successful in bringing out the inner strength in spite of the less screen time. Atul Kale and Alok Mishra make the biggest impression among the supporting cast.

Final word: Janaawar is definitely worth watching for those interested in mysteries going beyond the usual whodunits.