Sep 24, 2026 1:35pm IST
‘Shaque’ Review: Parineeti Chopra Leads A Kidnapping Thriller Where Common Sense Goes Missing
If you ever find yourself watching “Shaque,” rest assured that the only thing actually being held hostage is your precious time. A soap opera disguised as a psychological thriller, this show takes a missing-child plot and throws in black magic, stage-three cancer, extra-marital affairs, and tarot readings to deliver pure, unadulterated chaos. Driving this circus is Parineeti Chopra as the perpetually delulu mother, Anvita, whose husband, Alok (Tahir Raj Bhasin), is too busy sleeping with his best friend, Shreya (Harleen Sethi), to care about his missing kid.
Throw in Soni Razdan as the chicken-blood-brewing mother-in-law, Anup Soni as an investigating cop by day and tarot card reader by night who is battling both crime and a terminal diagnosis, and Jennifer Winget as the deeply unhinged Sakshi, and you have a cast doing everything except making sense.
Here are some burning questions that are sure to plague the audience’s mind throughout this wild, nonsensical ride and the even more ridiculous answers the show provided.
Q: If your newborn daughter disappears from a hospital, what is the standard protocol?
A: Naturally, it is to ignore all law enforcement, have your husband immediately start sleeping with your best friend, and consult a local tarot reader. Bonus points if your mother-in-law poisons your food with a black-magic potion because she thinks the baby was a bad-luck omen.
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Q: How will people who read the missing notice of your daughter know who they have to look for without a photo?
A: Through pure, unhinged psychic power. Who needs a photo on a missing poster when you can just have the mother run after random eight-year-old girls on the streets of Shimla with zero boundaries and maximum delusion?
Q: Is a sleepover toothbrush a legally admissible form of DNA testing?
A: Absolutely. Forget chain of custody, sterile swabs, or official laboratory procedure. Stealing a toothbrush from a child’s overnight bag or offering a stranger’s kid a bribe-chocolate for a saliva sample is peak forensic science in this universe.
Q: What is the recommended medical response to a security guard blackmailing a doctor involved in an illegal baby-selling racket?
A: Knock him off, obviously. Tracing phone records or reviewing hospital CCTV is far too mundane for the local police department, who are far too busy getting tarot card readings and developing sudden, script-convenient tumors.
Q: How do you handle a delicate confrontation with a woman you suspect stole your child?
A: You ruin a child’s birthday cake, make your surviving daughter blow out the candles through tears, and then throw a full-blown public meltdown. Afterward, you simply hop into the suspect’s car without calling for backup.
Q: What is the most reasonable explanation for a husband’s complete lack of empathy after his daughter is kidnapped?
A: He’s a bit occupied. Between having an affair with his wife’s best friend, dodging hit-and-run blackmail, and having the best friend’s husband running a black-market adoption ring, he simply doesn’t have the bandwidth to care about his missing child.
Q: How does the mother-in-law justify her son’s infidelity?
A: Divine intervention. Cheating isn’t a moral failing; it’s just God working in mysterious ways to pair her son with a “better-suited” partner who doesn’t constantly trip over chicken blood.
Q: Why was Sakshi sending annual birthday photos like a villain straight out of “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”?
A: Because revenge isn’t sweet unless it comes with annual photographic updates and heavy emotional trauma. Nothing says “I survived a hit-and-run” quite like mailing yearly growth milestone pictures to the victim’s traumatized mother.
Q: What happens when the investigating cop finally corners the main suspect?
A: He dies of stage-three stomach cancer right inside her living room. Because why solve a crime through police work when the universe can just hand the villain an airtight alibi via a sudden fatal medical emergency?
Q: How does a character prove they aren’t insane when being confronted in a car?
A: By violently repeatedly slamming their own head into the steering wheel until they bleed, of course. Nothing communicates “I am completely rational and stable” quite like self-inflicted blunt force trauma during a traffic stop.
Q: How does the show resolve the complex psychological trauma of a deeply confused eight-year-old girl?
A: By making her choose her favorite mother on the spot, watching one of them jump off a terrace, and leaving her to figure out the rest in therapy. Because nothing resolves a double-kidnapping saga quite like a traumatizing front-row seat to a dramatic rooftop climax!
At the end of seven agonizing episodes, Netflix's “Shaque” proves that while hope makes the world go round, common sense clearly got left behind at the hospital nursery. If you’re looking for a tight, logical thriller, look elsewhere, but if you want to watch a story where black magic, tarot cards, and terrible life choices drive the plot, this one takes the cake (and ruins it, too).
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