Choona 2023 Web Series
No heist is complete without a killer soundtrack. The music for Choona is composed by Amar Mangrulkar and features a mix of folk-inspired tracks and pulsating electronic beats. The title track, with its playful lyrics about cunning and trickery, sets the tone perfectly. Background scores during the heist sequences are reminiscent of 1970s Bollywood thrillers, adding a layer of nostalgic cool.
The story revolves around a common enemy: Avinash Shukla (played by Jimmy Shergill), a ruthless and superstitious politician who operates with an iron fist. The narrative brings together a motley crew of outcasts, each wronged by Shukla in some way. choona 2023 web series
Leading the pack is Shashi (Vikrant Massey), a street-smart man with a penchant for lies and deception. He teams up with a sharp-witted shape-shifter (Monika Panwar), a hacker, a locksmith, a transporter, and an orthodox Hindu priest. Their goal? To rob Shukla of his massive illicit fortune stashed away in a secretive vault. No heist is complete without a killer soundtrack
Unlike Money Heist or Dhoom, where plans are executed with military precision, Choona thrives on disorder. The team plans to "choona lagana" (to deceive or hoodwink) the politician by exploiting his superstitions and the systemic corruption around him. The show focuses as much on the "why" as the "how," exploring themes of caste, power dynamics, and the desperation of the marginalized. Background scores during the heist sequences are reminiscent
While Choona is packaged as a heist thriller, its subtext is rich with social commentary.
At its core, Choona is a story about agency. The protagonists are victims of a system that treats them as disposable. The heist is an act of reclaiming agency. The show posits that in a system where legal recourse is unavailable to the poor, illegality becomes the only form of justice. This resonates with a broader theme in Indian streaming content where the anti-hero or the outlaw is often the only figure capable of challenging systemic corruption.
Before we dissect the plot, it’s important to understand the title. In Hindi and several North Indian languages, “Choona” (चूना) literally means “lime.” However, in colloquial slang, “choona lagana” means “to cheat” or “to swindle.” The title is a clever double entendre: it refers both to the lime thrown during a political protest (a visual motif in the show) and the massive con-job that forms the heart of the story. The Choona 2023 web series is, at its core, about the sweet art of the scam.