Shaque: Trust No One review: Netflix drama starring Parineeti Chopra weaves taut web of lies & betrayal

Shaque: Trust No One, on Netflix, written and directed by Rensil D'Silva (of the 2009 Kurbaan fame), sets the lives of its many protagonists in Shimla, the Queen of the Hills, where the rolling terrains and atmospheric backdrop provide the perfect canvas for the drama unfolding in the not-so-sleepy town.

A mother’s loss

Anvita Dutt (Parineeti Chopra) is a new mother whose daughter is abducted hours after birth in the hospital. There is already a sense of foreboding in the audience as Anvita’s mother-in-law (Soni Razdan), cuddling her newborn granddaughter, removes the baby's ID from her ankle. Meanwhile, the baby’s father, Alok (Tahir Raj Bhasin), hastily leaves the ward, making Anvita confess to her best friend Shreya (Harleen Sethi) that there is distance between her and her husband. Ironically, the new mother hopes the baby’s coming would change it all. Meanwhile, Shreya's husband Bhaskar (Sumit Vyas), who is the doctor at the hospital, when informed about the baby's disappearance, asks the watchman to erase the footage.

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Eight years have passed… Anvita has not given up on her search for her missing daughter, and is constantly assisted by the investigating police officer Khurana (Anoop Soni). Every year, she and her husband, who have another daughter Siddhi, continue to celebrate their missing daughter Apeksha's birthday. In an uncanny twist, the couple receive a photo every year which never reveals the girl's face but gives them an idea that their daughter is alive somewhere.

Anvita's obsessive psychosis is understandable — a mother who has never come to terms with the disappearance of her child, her monomania often resulting in her stalking and becoming fixated on young girls close to Apeksha's age, convinced each one is her missing girl. It's a telling reflection of how a mother's postpartum trauma and grief are so often dismissed as madness rather than reckoned with.

Anvita, whose obsession has earned her the reputation of a witch, cannot be bothered with the many labels that define her. She meets Rhea, her daughter Siddhi's new friend in school, who, though two years older, always looks out for Siddhi. Anvita, convinced that Rhea is her missing daughter Apeksha, once again goes on a downward spiral, with the young girl's parents Sakshi (Jennifer Winget) and her husband asking for a restraining order against Anvita.

Betrayed by those around her

It seems everyone around her, including her husband, mother-in-law, and best friend Shreya, are convinced Anvita has mental health issues and needs to be put in a care facility. But even here things may not be what they appear to be.

Anvita's mother-in-law is under the influence of a godman who had told her that her son's firstborn would spell crisis for the family and that Anvita's presence is a debilitating factor for them and she needs to be removed.

So, while on one hand, the old lady has been using mysterious potions, spells and black-magic totems to add to Anvita's psychosis, on the other hand, Alok has been having an affair with Shreya, a fact everyone knows — including Shreya's husband — except Anvita herself. The two have a secret between them which if revealed could be explosive.

The only one on Anvita's side is the police officer Khurana, who has not once given up on Anvita and her cause, but even he realises the puzzle is far more convoluted, with those around Anvita being complicit in something bigger.

Though the narrative draws from the high-stakes domestic thrillers and regional melodramas (frequently seen in Turkish dramas and Korean "makjang" thrillers) that explore severe familial betrayal, it goes beyond that, highlighting the complexities of modern-day society, exploring the moral rot and how blind faith corrupts the very people it's meant to redeem, along with the fallacies of the human conscience.

The show's use of surrogacy fraud, godmen exploiting vulnerable families and custody manipulation isn't far removed from headlines we routinely see — grounding its drama in uncomfortably real territory.

Rensil D'Silva gives a tight, pressure-cooker narrative, exploring dual timelines and maximising the suspense — never once dipping in the storyline. Each character operates in a moral grey zone, with their own reasons and circumstances making them who they are.

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Parineeti Chopra, a new mother herself, gives an evocative and raw performance, articulating the paranoia and hysteria of a mother and a woman who has become a thorn in everyone's side, discarded by her own and consumed by neurosis, with her sole support being the investigating officer. The actor's raw and real performance proves why she excels in relatable roles.

Shaque: Trust No One, yet another in the streamers' slate of small-town suspense stories, highlights the systemic corruption in society seen through the lens of its characters, keeping one riveted and engaged, even making the audience react to the drama unfolding on screen.

Soni Razdan, as the cold and manipulative mother-in-law, gets the beats of her character on point, and the ensemble cast — represented by Jennifer Winget, Harleen Sethi and Tahir Raj Bhasin — are on point.