Childhood sweethearts reunite in Zee5 Global’s Paashbalish in the midst of a huge feud between two clans. Directed by Korok Murmu, Paashbalish is not your usual Bengali web series, as it has a much more layered story. In this article, we’re going to take a look at its ending, which didn’t quite sit right with me.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens at the End?
Before we go into that, let us summarize things a little bit. Set in Cooch Behar’s Pathorkuchi, Paashbalish is the story of Chandu, aka Babla, an orphan who grew up in the local police station. When he was a teenager, Babla got separated from his childhood crush Mampi, who eventually got adopted by local political leader and businessman Mahadev Mallik and grew up as his daughter Anchal. In the present day, Anchal is a journalist doing a story on the local drug peddling. She doesn’t quite remember Babla, but as fate would have it, the two meet after all. Meanwhile, Mahadev has this ongoing feud going on with the Paharbanshi tribe. The leader of Paharbanshi, Swadesh, has a personal vendetta against Mahadev. Swadesh also happens to be in a relationship with Anchal, which complicates things further. There’s also a murder investigation going on, headed by SDPO Adhiraj Sen. While it looks like all three murders—of Mahadev’s son, one Paharbanshi gang member, and police constable Pintu— were committed by none other than Chandu, who ends up in jail, there is a big twist before the climax.
Chandu, aka Babla, hasn’t done any murder after all. It was actually done by his twin brother, Shib Thakur, aka Tubla. He was obviously doing it for his brother. And in Tubla’s book, these three were no less than monsters. Mahadev’s son repeatedly used to sexually abuse Anchal; the Paharbanshi, Kala, attempted to murder Anchal by throwing a bomb at her; and constable Pintu was a bully who killed an innocent animal. The police arrest Shib Thakur (thinking he was Chandu), but then he is rescued by Chandu. Meanwhile, SDPO Sen brings all the major characters—Anchal, Mahadev, and Swadesh—into the police station to unravel the whole thing. Swadesh confesses that he tricked Anchal for the purpose of taking revenge on Mahadev, but he did fall in love with her. Anchal is understandably mad at him for what he has done to her. She eventually leaves with Mahadev, and on their way home, they’re interrupted by the twins.
Anchal is surprised to see Babla and Tubla together, but then she remembers Shib Thakur from her childhood, who always used to save her and Babla from all kinds of evil. But this time around, Anchal pleads with the brothers to surrender. They refuse, but Mahadev’s army arrives and starts beating them into pulp. That’s when Anchal starts to feel really bad and begs Mahadev spare them. But Mahadev shows his true colors by insulting Anchal. Triggered by her own father’s abominable behavior, Anchal decides to leave with the brothers. Sen and the police arrive at the scene, but Anchal manages to snatch a gun from Mahadev’s right-hand, Shona, and thanks to that, she gets away—along with the twins. When the trio reaches the barbed-wire fence, Tubla asks Anchal and Babla to get away while he tries to hold off the police, who are hot on their tail. Anchal and Babla cross, and the police arrive. Sen screams at Anchal and Babla to stop, but he doesn’t fire. Sadly, someone else does, and it’s none other than Mahadev.
Are Anchal and Chandu dead?
There shouldn’t be any doubts over the deaths of the lead pair of Paashbalish, Anchal and Chandu. We do get to see them lying on the bridge, looking very much dead, with blood flowing all around them. And given that Mahadev has fired twice, it is all but certain. What we see at the end of the show is a fantasy sequence; the color grading and dreamlike, grainy cinematography are enough to confirm that.
However, what I find ludicrous is Anchal suddenly deciding to cross the border with the twins. This is a story set in modern times, and Anchal is a journalist by profession. And from what we have seen earlier, she’s quite good at her job. She is in no way dependent on her father. Why would a woman like that suddenly decide to cross the border illegally with a potentially autistic guy and his deranged twin brother? There’s no denying that Babla had all the good intentions in the world, and Tubla did exactly what was needed to survive. But Anchal’s decision to run away with them just because her garbage-adoptive father is insulting her doesn’t make sense to me. Also, Paashbalish attempts to present Anchal and Chandu as this pair of star-crossed lovers, who sadly die in the end. But for most of the runtime, Anchal doesn’t seem to remember much about her childhood, and the whole romance seems pretty one-sided. Not to mention, Anchal has a boyfriend who appears to be quite alright—until he shoes his color by the end. The whole Swadesh drugging Anchal seemed like another terrible piece of writing, just to make way for the grand romance between Anchal and Chandu, which is nonexistent. Keeping all this in mind, Paashbalish just falls short in the end.
Also, considering the leads are dead, it is quite clear that there won’t be another season of this. But Paashbalish doesn’t quite get into whether Mahadev gets his due punishment for the murder of Swadesh’s father, and then Anchal and Chandu. I think it’s safe to say that his kill count is definitely more than three. It is also quite baffling to see SDPO Sen not doing anything to Mahadev, despite being a lawman. There’s no indication of him being corrupt, but is he the kind of police officer who doesn’t exactly care much about doing the right thing? He does care about animals, though, as he seems to tend Chandu’s dog while the end credit is rolling.
