Black, White, & Gray – Love Kills, directed by Pushkar Sunil Mahabal, is undoubtedly one of the best series to have released this year. And no, I am not talking about just Indian content. It’s an absolute treat to stumble upon such a series and be mesmerized by the art of storytelling on display. The way the story is narrated, making a bold decision to make it a mockumentary, the plot, the twists, and the performances, all the aspects together make for an entertaining and thought-provoking watch. I mean, how many times have you seen the names of the protagonist and his love interest not revealed in the entire series? Considering how big banners like spoon-feeding the audiences, I would like to applaud Sony Liv for backing such a project and having faith in the creative team. A special shoutout had to be given to Mayur More and Palak Jaiswal for their captivating performances.
Spoiler Alert
What happened after the hotel raid?
At first, we are told things according to the narrative of the police officers and the other people who actually had no knowledge about what had happened but were acting solely on the minister’s orders. The minister’s daughter had run away with his driver’s son, and more than being worried about her, he was anxious about saving his own reputation. The missing girl had never been close to her parents. They too didn’t seem to have any kind of affection towards her. The girl was on medication as she was suffering from chronic mental health issues. Devoid of any sort of emotional attachment, she felt a void inside her that no person could seem to fulfill. Then she started talking to this boy who happened to be her driver’s son. They came from two different worlds, and the girl wasn’t so naive as to not understand that fact. She liked the boy, and she didn’t stop herself from indulging with him sexually. But the girl was very clear in her mind: she didn’t want to be in a relationship with him. The girl felt that attachment was the worst thing that could happen to a human being. She liked the fact that they had fun, without any sort of expectations. But it was impossible for the boy to not fall for her. I mean, she was everything he could ask for. She was understanding; she never looked down on him, and most of all, she looked forward to spending time with him. They used to meet in shady cafes and secluded places, but then one day the girl asked the boy if they could find a place to spend the entire night together.
The boy’s father often took the minister’s car to his home, and that day the boy decided to use it just for the night. He took the car, picked up the girl, and went to that hotel where they were going to spend the night. The plan was in motion, and both of them just couldn’t hide their excitement. But then the police conducted a raid on that hotel, and both the boy and girl panicked as they knew what could happen if they got caught. While escaping, the girl slipped, and she suffered injuries on her head. For a prolonged period of time, she was unconscious, and the boy felt that he had lost her. Somehow, he managed to put her in the car and escape from there. The boy kept driving all through the night, and he became sure that the girl had succumbed to her injuries. He decided to burn her body; he even poured kerosene oil over her, but then he changed his mind. The media spread the news like a wildfire; there were speculations about what could have happened, but in each and every narrative, the boy was seen as the perpetrator. People were not even ready to believe that the girl could have gone with the boy of her own free will. How could a rich girl fall for her driver’s son? The police officer, who was on the minister’s payroll, had made it clear that the boy had kidnapped the girl with the intention to sexually abuse her, and when things didn’t go his way, he killed her. It was the most convenient narrative: one that was easily believable. Nobody would have believed that a girl coming from a privileged background could have a relationship with a boy who was her driver’s son. This boy heard her, understood her, and gave her attention. But no! None of these things were taken into consideration, and it was written in the news headline in bold letters that a lecherous boy killed the girl after she refused to give in to him.
Why did the boy kill Chauhan?
Apart from the girl, the boy was blamed for killing a senior cop, a taxi driver, and a young boy who happened to come in his way and apparently tried exposing him. According to the narrative of the inspector in charge of the case, Rajesh Bobade, the boy gave a lift to the cop, whose taxi broke down on the highway. The boy knew that, with him in his car, he wouldn’t be stopped at any checkpoints, and he could easily cross the state border. Then after he no longer needed him, he killed him. The taxi driver was contacted by Bobade, who unfortunately lost his life because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. According to Bobade, the boy had killed the taxi driver because the latter found him and tried to stop him. Then there was a young village boy, who took a video of the driver’s son, in which he could be seen putting a dead body in his car trunk. The boy chased the young villager and then killed him too. But this entire narrative was built on pure speculation, as there was no solid evidence that could substantiate it. And even if there was some evidence that went against the boy’s narrative, like the video and the DNA, his side of the story also completely made sense. So after these events happened, the boy went missing, and for 2 years nobody heard a word from him. But then one day he messaged the director of the documentary, as he wished to present his side in front of the world. He knew that the administration wouldn’t give him that chance, since he had already been branded as a murderer and a rapist, but the director seemed like a sensible man.
What was the boy’s side of the story?
The boy had a counterargument for every allegation made against him. He did admit to killing all those people that he was blamed for, but he also stated that his motives and his intentions were very different. So basically the cop, while traveling with the boy, realized that he had a dead body in his car’s trunk. Chauhan attacked him, and he would have killed him if a miracle hadn’t happened. The girl, who had supposedly died, came back to life and attacked the cop. She, together with the boy, killed the cop. Then a villager took that video, and so he chased him down. The villager accidentally came in front of his car, and according to the boy, he didn’t have any intention of killing him. The boy said that, because the girl’s family had placed a bounty of 10 lakhs on his head, there were people who were looking to catch him. So two such men came up behind him, and Sunny, the taxi driver, also arrived at the scene at that time. Those men gravely injure Sunny in the chaos and then escape from there. According to his narrative, he tried saving the man, but he couldn’t do it. The boy stated that the minister’s hired gun, Rao, found Sunny, the taxi driver, when he was still alive. He was killed, and evidence was planted on him to incriminate the boy. Later, the boy expressed his feelings towards the girl. He told her that he had started loving her, and it was never just about physical intimacy for him. The girl reciprocated his feelings, and she told him that she would go to Nepal with him. But Rao caught them before that on the minister’s orders and killed the girl, though the boy was able to make a near escape. The boy said that he tried telling his side of the story to a man who happened to be the prime time anchor of a news channel that seemed to show sympathy towards him. But then after he realized that the anchor too was bought by the minister, the boy changed his mind.
Till the very end of Black, White, & Gray, one is more inclined to believe the boy’s side of the story. Yes, there were certain inconsistencies, but a majority of things seemed true. The earnestness with which he spoke made the viewer buy his perspective, and it did feel that he was victimized by a corrupt system.
Did the accused actually kill the minister’s daughter?
Black, White, & Gray leaves it up to your discretion to decide what the truth was. In the series’ ending, we saw that the boy still had the red dress that the girl was wearing with him. Now according to his narrative, Rao had shot the girl, and he just managed to escape from there. The girl was wearing that red top that day, so how did he have it in his possession? It meant that the boy also wasn’t telling the entire truth. He believed himself to be innocent, and probably he tweaked certain facts to make them feel more aligned to his story. But it was quite evident that the policeman, the minister, and the media also weren’t telling the truth. They wanted to frame the boy, and it was true that they wouldn’t have given him the option of telling his story. The director, who was interviewing the boy, made a very interesting comment about the case and Indian society in general; he said that he noticed that there was an undercurrent of hubris of power in society. He noticed an inflated sense of self-worth in the powerful people. He saw how they owned the system, how they validated their own actions, and how, quite conveniently, they formed a narrative and believed it to be the universal truth. But is there anything like the absolute truth in this world? I mean, truth is just a perspective, and everybody has their own version of a story. Bobade wanted to believe that the boy was a rapist, and probably he would have used his resources to prove that fact in the court too. But would it mean that it was the truth? I don’t think so. That said, probably the boy had burned the girl, believing her to be dead, or maybe he would have killed her intentionally, but according to his narrative he was innocent. Well, you are entitled to frame your own opinion, and it could favor either of the parties. I believe that’s the beauty of the series and that’s how it justifies its title.
