CID Written Update: Jungle Ka Khooni Khel (August 23, 2015)

Scene 1

The episode begins with a girl being seen running through a jungle, visibly frightened. She stops underneath a tree, checking a map of the island in her possession before spotting a man's blood-covered corpse high up on the tree and getting scared out of her wits. An unidentified man with a crossbow starts stalking her and shooting arrows at her. She flees and enters a tent with a radio set and makes an emergency call stating she's stuck in one Sinduri jungle, all her companions are dead and some people are out to kill her. Before she can complete the call, the man with the crossbow enters and fatally shoots an arrow into her throat. The radio receiver hangs limply as someone (I guess Abhijeet sir) answers her call.

Scene 2

One day later, we see our CID team comprising of the duo, Purvi di, Vansh, Shreya, Nikhil and Pankaj arriving on the island via boat by tracking the distress call the girl had sent out to the northeastern part of the island. They start venturing towards that spot discussing how according to the girl, her companions were already murdered and others were in danger. Suddenly there's a shower of arrows from the skies (Rahasya Dweep redux, anyone?) and the team scatters as they're attacked. Daya sir, Pankaj and Shreya end up taking cover behind some rocks and realize the rest of their team has been separated from them. Daya sir says they can't call them either as there's no signal. Suddenly Pankaj is shot in the rear with an arrow (*whistles innocently*) and (following what's an effort-at-comedy-that-rather-makes-this-slob-of-a-croc-bang-his-head) Daya sir pulls out the arrow with some effort, realizes the wound is significant and sets out to dress it. (*more innocent whistling*)

Scene 3

We see another girl wearing dress similar to the victim from Scene 1, venturing through the forest evading the mysterious man with the crossbow. Eventually she stops in her tracks, shocked.

Scene 4

Daya sir and the others use their compass and map to start heading for the spot from where they had received the distress call. Eventually they come across the group of tents and enter it to find the girl dead upon the floor, her throat pierced with an arrow. Shreya points out the survival kit, first aid box etc. kept there and construes these people had come here to camp. Daya sir says this deserted island is an unfavourable spot for camping. Shreya finds her map of the island with a spot marked "Your Destination". Pankaj wonders if it's a treasure hunt. They find another survival guide of "do's and don'ts" with the girl. Daya sir wonders what's going on.

Scene 5

Back in the jungle, the girl in scene 3 stops, scared as Abhijeet sir appears in front of her, holding out his gun. She pleads for mercy and says she's doing as told, and identifies herself as Neha. Abhijeet sir assures they're CID cops and have come to help her and Purvi di asks if she was the one who sent the distress signal. Neha says it wasn't her, and she and the others were brought here for a game show, and her companions were all murdered one by one. She adds this is a reality show and they had been divided into 4 pairs and asked to evade perils in the jungle and reach a certain destined spot marked on the map, and the team to reach there first would be awarded 1 crore rupees. She explains she had been paired with one Raj and while trekking, they came across a rotting, months old human corpse in the jungle, with a contestant band on its wrist. They got scared and decided to get away, but Raj was fatally shot in the head with an arrow. Abhijeet sir construes the game hosts are planning to kill all the contestants, including the winners, and record the resulting morbid film (snop film or something... I couldn't get the term clearly). He takes Neha's map and says they need to stop the contestants from reaching the marked spot, and find it first.

Scene 6

On the other side, Daya sir discusses that the spot marked on the map might be the villains' hideout and they have a jammer installed there to deactivate mobile networks (I'd say a remote island like that is unlikely to have any significant network coverage anyway). Daya sir plans to ambush them and use determination and planning to overcome the odds. Pankaj accidentally falls onto a large termite nest, and the three officers are attacked by a swarm of gigantic red termites. They're forced to flee and jump into a stream to wash off the critters. (I'm a good boy. Mazaak nahi udaunga. 😛)

Scene 7

The other half of the team is seen trekking through the jungle, and suddenly Nikhil falls into a concealed tunnel in the jungle floor. The team is shocked and concerned, and sends in Vansh to find and rescue Nikhil. Vansh dons a rescue vest and helmet with torch (which appeared out of thin air or were Accio'd over there, I guess), and descends down the tunnel and finds Nikhil. The two of them see some dead bodies in the tunnel. After several minutes of coordinated effort, Nikhil is rescued. Purvi wonders how many of the eight remaining contestants have survived.

Scene 8

Daya sir and the others come across a man and lady who say they too are participants and the reality show hosts are out to murder them now. The cops assure them of safety and take them along.

Scene 9

Abhijeet sir's team is seen moving through the forest. Purvi di rests her hand on a tree trunk for a moment, and without warning a green tree snake slithers up and bites her finger. (Two points I'd have expected you to keep in mind FW. First, these tree snakes are not venomous and they don't even have fangs. Two, they're found only in Australia and parts of the Americas. Google ho ya Koogle, ek simple search aur doubt na karta doodle.) She collapses in extreme pain and Abhijeet sir asks for a first aid kit while he presses out blood at the bite site to remove the venom, and bandages it assuring she'll be fine. (I know nothing can stop detractors, but I personally found this scene well done. Both Ansha di's performance and the team's concern. 👏 👏)

At this point Abhijeet sir hears a commotion and asking Purvi di and Vansh to stay back, goes ahead to find it's Daya sir and the others. They explain to each other what happened and the two contestants with Daya sir recognize Neha and ask how she escaped from the thugs who captured her. Neha tries to act innocent but Abhijeet sir demands how come she didn't mention this to them. She confesses those thugs have captured her lover Sameera and will kill him unless she brings the CID to the destination point marked on the map. Daya sir checks the map to see the marked place.

Scene 10

The team with Neha and the other contestants arrives at the marked spot and finds a tent there. Asking Shreya to stay with the contestants, the cops infiltrate the tent and find Sameer bound and gagged there. They rescue him and he thanks them saying he knows nothing about the fate of the others. They go outside and prepare to move out just as a tall man (played by Ali Hassan) approaches and gloats that he's the mastermind behind all of this. He brings forth Purvi di and Vansh held at gunpoint (get me a bazooka, someone 😡 😡). Sameer draws his own weapons and holds the others hostage as well. The mastermind gloats that he'll now broadcast the live killing of the CID officers on his reality show and mint big bucks out of it (yup and count that money in jail I guess? Because the law will let you off scot free after doing something like that. Or flee with the money to some remote place where the only currency is tooth and claw.)

Scene 11

Here comes the most eagerly anticipated (/sarcasm) and duly promoted scene of the CID officers being made to stand under a rock arch, tied up in an exquisite human trapezium of sorts (that would make Tom and Jerry gulp in disbelief). Abhijeet sir is forced to hold Daya sir who's standing on his shoulders (ouch), and the juniors are tied in pairs and made to stand on two tables on either side of the duo, with ropes connecting the table legs to Daya sir. All of them except Abhijeet sir have their necks tightened in nooses connected firmly to the rock arch. So the basic fundamental is... if Abhijeet sir falls, then down go Daya sir and the tables as well... resulting in six mass hangings (bhai lagta hai ye waqai thrilling hai kyunki mera pulse rate badh raha hai. Oh wait... broken glasses lie everywhere, I'm holding another one ready to smash the TV, my forehead is in dire need of bandaging and the wall in need of repair, and looks like I'll be a frequent visitor to Dr. Batra's as I've pulled my hair out. Truly thrilling that was. 🤢 🤢)

The mastermind and Sameer watch this spectacle with thrill and the other contestants with desperation. Sameer draws his crossbow and starts shooting Abhijeet sir with arrows multiple times, first in the leg and then chest (that hurt. Seriously hurt ), relishing every bit of the pain he's causing. Abhijeet sir finally collapses and the inevitable tragedy starts to happen. Mustering every last bit of strength remaining, Abhijeet sir pulls the bloody arrow from his own chest and hurls it into the air to sever Daya sir's noose rope (though it's unrealistic I liked this one due to Abhijeet sir's fantastic expressions 👏 👏). They then hold the female cops by the legs to prevent them getting hanged and fight off the attackers (totally shocking and completely unacceptable for me. 😲 🤢 🤢 🤢 Whoever's idea it was to treat ladies like this, should be ashamed of themselves. Sorry). Ultimately the entire team is safe and the duo manage to defeat Sameer and the mastermind. The episode ends with the latter surrendering to them.

THE END

For me, this was one of the most senseless episodes in recent times and there were only a selected few things worth watching, mentioned above. I didn't comment more than needed because I don't have the heart to make fun of the efforts of the actors who've clearly given their best even to an extremely disappointing episode like this. If we put ourselves in their place and imagine shooting in a humid and insect-filled jungle for days, then standing tied up in that rope formation for goodness knows how long, most likely doing multiple takes, only for their dedicated well wishers, then the truth hits home. I cannot accept that one would do all of that just for money and fame, to obtain which there are far more convenient ways. So I'll just end this paying my respects to our beloved team yet again and I hope the creatives acknowledge their efforts and at least give them dignified roles, story jaisi bhi ho.