189. Web-Series Reviews – 41

More web-series… some more Indian ones…

Maharani – Released in 2021.  This is a fictional story, where Rani Bharti (Huma Qureshi) is a homemaker and the wife of Bihar's chief minister Bheema (Sohum Shah). All she cares about is her house and her husband. She wants to pack her bags and go back to the village after her husband resigns from the post of Bihar's CM. But her life takes a turn when her husband and Bihar's CM is made to announce the name of his successor. While his party members look excited to hear who has been appointed, he makes Rani his successor, leaving everyone surprised.

A review from IMDB...

A story blended with reality but with an ending far too fictious, Maharani is definitely intriguing thanks to the beautiful transition in the character arc of Huma Qureshi. All actors have done their job well as required. The story and writing was pretty simple, predictable and dull sometimes but the series did not seem boring at any point of time. Watch it if interested in politics as the series certainly has some political tactics to show off.

My Take – Worth a watch once. 

Ray – Ray is an Indian anthology mini web series on Netflix created by Sayantan Mukherjee, based on the works of Satyajit Ray. The series features Manoj Bajpayee, Ali Fazal, Harshvardhan Kapoor and Kay Kay Menon in key roles. The series was released on 25th of June 2021 on Netflix

One of the reviews from IMDB...

I have many critical complains for the 4 parts series. But the plot is itself so loose, I wouldn't be able to go past that in a regular sized review.

Ali Fazal looked like he's playing an entrepreneur in a college play. Having an entourage walk while you give instructions and then enter with style is done a gazillion times with exact same camera angles and punching dialogues to show he's a star entrepreneur when that's far away from real world. I wouldn't pick up nitty gritty details until when people call it a masterpiece. The going back his "past" scene is full of Old Boy when the protagonist goes to his school and chases his younger self through the multiple floors. That scene is picked up blatantly from the dark gory classic. Though the twist is fun, until then nothing is.

KKs story has so many loose ends. It builds up to give you expectations towards a horror thriller while it deviates directions midway to make a baba its main character out of the blue and that leaves us wondering what was the purpose of spending so much build up on others. They could have brushed those plots much quicker. You are made to care for other characters like his land owner, boss and his crush, only to be made unimportant in the final 3/4th of the story. That leaves me with, "really?"

Manoj’s story is well directed, they cleverly use a theater as an exposition machine to the backdrop. But you can see the twist from a mile coming. When the twist starts looking predictable, I believe the director should rush to the ending than make us wait to offer the same. It's a terrible drag.

The final one has Harshvardhan Kapoor. Enough said. Just to add a little more, it's another terrible drag.

The short stories have been given more details to enlarge them into a full-fledged 1 hour independent films, which led to the demise of what could have been an engaging interesting set of short films.

My Take – Except for Manoj Bajpayee's episode, others are not good.  I read the actual stories and then saw the series.  The series are handed differently than the actual stories.  And as usual, the stories were much better😊!!

The Married Woman – It is a story of two women, Astha and Peeplika, set in the backdrop of the 90s, where Astha is a dutiful housewife and a mother. Peeplika is an unconventional artist and has never been impressed by normal routines in her life. Astha sets out on a journey of self-discovery and meets Peeplika on the route. Astha sets herself free from the society pressures and boundaries when she finds an intense connection with Peeplika, something that she always longed for. All this happens amidst the riots after Babri Masjid demolition horrified the nation.

One of the reviews from IMDB...

The Married Woman is like old wine in new bottle. The story of bored housewife, feeling neglected by husband losing spark in marriage is something we have seen in many stories. However here the treatment seems different but the show is somewhat slow.

The first episode where the story unfolds seems interesting and the equation of Aastha(Ridhi Dogra) with Aizaz(Imaad Shah) seems likeable but without any build up to the story suddenly things started turining and Aastha suddenly started loving Aizaz so deeply and then suddenly Aizaz is dead. It all happened so quickly in the first episode. Should have been given time to build character and establish some story there. 

Aastha is then attracted toward Piplika (Monica Dogra) and this too happens so quickly, without any story build up. Not so convincing here.

The story moves at a slow pace after the first episode but its watchable.

The biggest flaw of the series is - undeveloped story line and the slow pace. Things happens just out of nowhere.

There was so much story happening in the first episode, the social scene of nation and other elements, should have been continued in the story going forward.

However, it would take effort to sit through all the episodes. The first couple of episode pretty much sums up the story.

It's not a bad series but pretty average one. Yes, could have been way better.

Ridhi Dogra's performance is really good. She is convincing and portryas her emotions. Monica dogra is likeable. Imaad Shah is super in the first episode. Though he had only one episode and wish we could see more of him in the series.

My Take – I had read the book before seeing the series.  I didn't like the book as it had a tame ending.  The series has taken some liberties from the book.  At the end of the series, I am sure that season 2 will be coming as the ending is not as per the book😊!!

A Simple Murder – Released in 2020.  A failed entrepreneur has a lot going on in life when he finds himself involved in a case of mistaken identity and ends up getting a contract to kill a young girl. The target is the daughter of an influential politician.

A review from IMDB...

A Simple Murder is a light-hearted dark comedy series with great dialogues. A very smart writing, great direction, excellent story & plot. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub is the best and the USP for this series. Supporting cast like Sushant Singh, Amit Sial, Yashpal Sharma were phenomenal in the whole series. Priya Anand is excellent playing her character of Richa. Very minimal use of abusive language makes it complete treat to watch.

It turns into action thrill in the last episode which is very well executed. But the suspense is maintained till the last episode.

My Take – One-time watch for good time pass😊!!

Cheers till next time😊!!

Today’s Observation

Every dog has its day, but only a dog with a broken tail has a “week-end”! 😊