Hunkkaar: The Roar Review: When Fiction Feels Too Close to Reality
Usually, when I finish a series, I can separate the story from everything else and talk about the performances, writing, and pacing. But Hunkkaar felt different. While watching it, I felt a heaviness that I couldn't really shake off. There were moments when I genuinely wondered if I could continue watching.
Perhaps it was because of everything happening around us right now. Recent cases of sexual violence against women, the fear and anxiety that come with them, and the recent Delhi case involving a teenage girl near Lady Shri Ram College were already weighing on my mind. LSR even shifted classes online following the incident. So watching a story about a young woman fighting to be believed did not feel as distant as fiction usually does.
It felt painfully close.
That's probably why this is one of the harder reviews I've had to write.
A Familiar Story That Still Hurts
At its core, Hunkkaar isn't telling us a completely new story. We've seen stories about powerful godmen, sexual abuse, blind faith, and women fighting against people with influence before. There are moments where the series does feel familiar, and you might find yourself thinking that you've seen something similar before.
But that didn't stop it from affecting me.
From the very beginning, we know what happened to Meenu Rawat. The question isn't really whether she was assaulted by Baapji. It is whether anyone will believe her and whether she will actually get justice.
The most gut-wrenching part for me was when Meenu talks about having repeated the incident fourteen times and still not being believed. Fourteen times. She has already experienced something horrific, and then she has to keep reliving it simply because people aren't willing to accept her word.
That was the moment when the story really got to me.
And this is where Aneet Padda's performance as Meenu shines.
There is so much exhaustion in the way she plays her. You can see the fear, frustration, and helplessness without the performance ever feeling overdone. She makes you understand what it means to be tired of telling the same story and still feel unheard.
The Performances Make Hunkkaar Work
Fatima Sana Shaikh as ACP Jasleen Singh Soin brings another kind of strength to the story. She fights to uncover the truth and refuses to let Meenu's case simply disappear beneath the influence surrounding Baapji. Her determination gives the story some much-needed balance.
Then there is Raghubir Yadav as Baapji. He plays the character so convincingly that you genuinely feel angry whenever he appears. There is something particularly disturbing about a man who has built an entire image around faith and trust while using that influence to protect himself. It is the kind of performance that makes you hate the character, and Raghubir Yadav manages to do that very well.
Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Bhalerao, Meenu's lawyer, is equally commendable. He brings the conviction needed for someone fighting a case where the odds seem stacked against his client.
And then there is Ram Kapoor as Baapji's lawyer. His character is obviously defending someone we know to be deeply disturbing, but I found myself remembering one small moment. When he gives his handkerchief to Meenu, it feels like a quiet acknowledgement that despite standing on the wrong side, he still has some humanity left. The gesture doesn't erase what came before, but it says something about how even someone standing close to wrongdoing can recognise another person's pain.
Rajesh Sharma as Dharampal, Meenu's father, also stayed with me. Initially, his relief that his daughter is still a virgin is deeply uncomfortable because it shows how easily a woman's dignity can get reduced to her purity. But as he begins to understand what she actually went through, his entire perspective changes. His inability to meet his daughter's eyes, followed by his eventual decision to stand by her, felt painfully real.
What Stayed With Me After Hunkkaar
I don't think Hunkkaar: The Roar is perfect. The story can feel familiar, and there are moments where you feel you've watched variations of it before. But the performances give that familiar story enough emotional weight to stay with you.
For me, though, the series became about something beyond whether the story was original.
It became about the feeling it left behind.
While watching Meenu repeatedly explain what happened to her, I couldn't stop thinking about how many women have had to repeat their stories, answer uncomfortable questions, and prove their pain before anyone decides to believe them.
And with everything happening around us right now, that thought is difficult to ignore.
Maybe that is why I found Hunkkaar so painful to watch. Not because it showed me something I had never seen before, but because it showed me something I know is still happening.
I finished Hunkkaar: The Roar with admiration for the performances, particularly Aneet Padda's, but also with a strange heaviness that I haven't been able to shake.
This isn't a review where I want to give you a neat rating and move on. Because for once, what stayed with me wasn't simply whether I liked the series.
It was how much it hurt to watch it.
It’s a very different kind of story from Hunkkaar: The Roar, but if you enjoy dramas that leave you with plenty to think about, you might want to give it a read.
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