Pill review: Riteish Deshmukh leads David vs Goliath battle against pharma industry in his career best performance

Creator: Raj Kumar Gupta

Cast: Riteish Deshmukh, Pavan Malhotra, Anshul Chauhan, Akshat Chauhan, Kunj Anand, Baharul Islam, Neha Saraf, Hanish Kaushal, Sanghasri Sinha, Nikhil Khurana

Where to watch: JioCinema

Rating: 3.5 stars

"Hero sirf filmo mein jeet-te hain, hakikat me duniya sirf villain chalaate hain (Heroes only win in films, villians rule the world in real)", says Brahma Gill (Pavan Malhotra) in Pill. Gill is the CEO of Forever Cure, India's leading pharmaeutical company, that is entirely injected with corruption. They conduct clinical trials of their adultered drugs on people without their knowledge and this ends up these guinea pigs losing their vital organs. Forever Cure gets its drugs approved and recommended by giving hefty bribes to government officials, medical experts, politicians, and doctors.

Enters Dr. Prakash Chauhan (Riteish Deshmukh) as the newly appointed Deputy Medicine Controller, who finds out about this irregularities and must fight out with Forever Cure and the pharmeceutial industry in this battle of David vs Goliath. He is helped by his junior medicine inspector Gursimrat Kaur (Anshul Chauhan) and a cub journalist Noor Khan (Akshat Chauhan) in this battle. The eight-episodic series shows how this trio uncovers the truth about this medical fraud and if they are able to bring the perperators to justice.

Pill is directed by Raj Kumar Gupta, who has previously made gripping thrillers such as Aamir, No One Killed Jessica, and Raid. It is refreshing to see Riteish in a serious role and he nails it with his career best performance. His accent seems jarring initially, but he makes the show more believable as a dedicated and committed Prakash. His scenes with his wife and son are quite relatable and depict the Indian middle class household perfectly. Riteish makes the audience root for him as he fights against the corrupt in this fight.

Pavan Malhotra shows again why he is one of the best actors in the industry. His performance as manipulative CEO Gill, who is only interested in profits, makes you detest him. Akshat Chauhan, who is recruited as an entertainment journalist but turns into an investigative reporter, is the find of the show for me. His comic scenes bring respite to the show's serious nature. Anshul Chauhan is solid here as the no-nonsense medical inspector.

The show's first four episodes are solid and kept me invested in the narrative. But just as a film suffers from the second half syndrome, Pill also loses its grip from the fifth episode onwards. The storytelling starts meandering for a while and one might lose interest in what is happening on the screen. The final episode brings back the thrill of the narrative, but the conclusion isn't fleshed out properly. The production design in the entire show isn't neat, as is what expected from a show or film produced by Ronnie Screwala's RSVP banner. But, keeping aside its few shortcomings, Pill is an earnest and important show.

We get to read about several medical frauds every other day, but this Raj Kumar Gupta series shows how some pharmaceutical companies have complete disregard for the patients and those consuming their medicines, just for the sake of their own well being. And hence, Pill is an important watch in the present times when the individuals are focusing more on their health and lifetysle, especially after Covid-19.

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