The likeable Constable Gopal (Sukant Goel) is on a working holiday, assigned to locate a missing engineer employed at a large corporation that is building a dam on the river that runs through his hometown. In a village where nothing remains a secret for long, Gopal finds himself looking for clues in every conversation, testing neighbourly ties as he earnestly represents the long arm of the law. A chasm seems to divide Gopal from his sympathetic but unhelpful mother (Anuja Lokre) and his beloved maternal uncle (BM Vyas) who is also the village head. It doesn’t help that his bristly superior (Mangesh Bhide) is staying at the company guesthouse. As village life gets creepier by the second, Gopal is irresistibly drawn to a boatwoman (Aadya Bedi). While Bedi is unconvincing at casting a net, the duo drum up a palpable attraction.

It’s a clear case of the big guys versus the little guys but Jaal touches on political gain and moral responsibility without getting drippy or opaque. The atmosphere grows claustrophobic as playwright Annie Zaidi and director Faezeh Jalali expertly measure out the suspense in this whodunit, allowing the tension to rise with each telling detail. The production has an occasional hiccup with the light cues and set change. But it is effortlessly enlivened by a cast that brings out the inherent humour and drama in the piece, and uses the catwalk and aisles to good effect. The dark tone of the play is lightened by stand-out performances from Trimala Adhikari as Gopal’s bratty, know-it-all sister galloping around in plaits and a school uniform, Jaswinder Singh as the tobaccochewing, slimy journalist fond of bikes, booze and gossip, and Debtosh Darjee who barks, begs and conjures an entire range of doggy behaviour as Gopal’s scruffy pooch.