212. Web-Series Reviews – 60

More web-series reviews…

Aranyak – Came out in 2021.  After a foreign teenage tourist disappears in a misty town, a harried, local cop Kasturi must join hands with her city-bred replacement Angad, on a big-ticket case that digs up skeletons and revives a forgotten myth of a bloodthirsty, serial killing entity in the forest. 

One of the reviews from IMDB...

As opposed to widespread expectations, the show commences on a somewhat timid note. At the introductory phases, I was neither convinced about its efficacy nor was I very fond of its rather estranged way of presentation.

Thankfully, as the story unfolds; I gradually and then eventually reached a point where I could say with much certainty that I'm pretty impressed with what they had in their offerings.

Despite having a handful of infrequent missteps, and even a comparatively unstable screenplay; the storyline due to being compelling in nature, was able to get a hold of my attention till the very end. The characters are well defined, and I love how the writers had voluntarily given everybody a different motive to fiddle with.

Each character; be it the protagonists or the supporting ones, had distinctive reasons for which they ultimately fit in the said scenario.

And the whole ensemble's dedication and earnestness to their respective roles are nothing but testimonies to my statement! Parambrata Chatterjee, Raveena Tandon; both showcased their versions of dominant performances here. Their dynamic, the chemistry shared by these two veterans is something worth rooting for.

Speaking of others, there are no complaints from my end whatsoever. Regardless, I do have some issues with its relatively unskillful technical sides. Don't get me wrong, they aren't anything dreadful; it's just that for a Netflix Original, things were rather crammed with mediocrity. Unlike the conventionally higher standards, Netflix tends to follow!

My Take – A worthwhile watch!

Aarya 2 – Came out in 2021.  One of the reviews from IMDB...

Season 2 should have continued from that end of season 1 peak, from the achievements of the protagonist. Instead, Aarya continues as a scared mom (again?), an underdog for the entire second season (except the final episode of course) 

Feels like, the Director just wanted to repeat Aarya's season 1 finale episode performance, and the rest of the season was fillers with Hollywood cliches (list below).

Where is Aarya's character growth? That's the big difference between something like 'Breaking Bad' versus this.

Biggest plot hole - The cop, Khan arrests Aarya for her brother's (Sangram) murder charges, just on the statements of her sister-in-law.

But, when he gets a direct lead that Aarya's security guy 'Gopi' killed Sangram, instead of questioning her, he goes to her home and asks for an apology? WTF? Gopi is gun-for-hire for sure but is in the direct employment of Aarya, why not arrest her now?

All of the Hollywood cliches as promised above

1. When cops take you in - Where is my phone call/My lawyer?

2. 24 hours only in remand?

3. Is your pregnancy hospital bag ready?

4. Your water broke (although WTF with calls made in leisure instead of rushing to the hospital?)

5. Can I be in the operation theatre while the baby is being delivered?

6. Overdose (OD)

7. Rehab center (people sitting in a circle)

My Take – Not worth the watch!

 

Decoupled – Came out in 2021. Follows a writer and his wife who announce their divorce with a party, which ends up exposing other absurd relationships in their world.

One of the reviews from IMDB...

Extremely Restricted Audience show!

First lets start with the disappointment. What's with Netflix needing to make shows in English completely? I see Netflix feels its audience is mostly the high class rich english educated people so they proceed to make a show sponsered by them (cuz of Netflix's reference everywhere) almost fully in English with a little Hindi here and there. If you are making shows for India, make them in Hindi or local languages. 1 star gone for that.

Now lets come to the content. DECOUPLED would appear as if it is focused mainly on the divorce of Arya and Shruti but NO! This topic actually takes a back stage thanks to a lot of other topics and discussions coming in the way. This show feels it tries to focus on very hilarious, weird and uncomfortable questions about human traits and society through Arya, the man who literally creates trouble for him wherever he goes simply because of the weird uncomfortable questions he tends to ask starting from him asking a soldier at the airport gate that "You arent even a soldier you are just checking tickets right?" and everyone gets angry with that.

All these uncomfortable weird questions about society and human traits and personality makes this show watchable for only a very very very small set of audience. And believe me, if you dont get offended anywhere and treat them as genuine questions, believe me, you are in for an absolute roller coaster ride of laughter!!!!

Yes!!! DECOUPLED is highly enjoyable and binge worthy if you can take Arya's questions and statements as something to think about stuff. There are several moments in this show that are soo hilarious and "seeti-maar" type. Example - "In a planet day society event, everyone is asked to dress up like Greta (the environmentalist i hope you know) and switch off their home lights for an hour. Arya however is unaware hence when the lights are turned off, he casually walks in and turns them on!! To this...Dr. Basu says "For every Greta, there is always a Trump" LMAO!! I laughed and whistled so hard at this scene.

There is also a reference to Parasite film in this series and lo...this series itself has moments that might remind you of that movie, the scenes with Ganesh are the ones. Every episode is so enjoyable and short that DECOUPLED becomes an easy entertaining binge watch.

R. Madhavan as Arya is actually a more complicated and weird "Rancho" from 3 idiots in this series. He does exactly what Rancho did but he takes it 10 steps ahead, ask weird questions and make weird , uncomfortable yet things to ponder about statements. He literally is in top form making us chuckle everytime he is in the scene, completely overshadowing surveen chawla (Shruti).

In an attempt to be a show that tries to ask too many uncomfortable questions, i feel it sometimes crosses its limits especially in that Muslim man scene. I mean I genuinely felt "These scenes are too much and should not have been greenlit"!

So, remember, DECOUPLED is that kind of series which, if you show it to the "Aam-janta" of India, probably you will be beaten up with sticks and stones but then, it can be watched by highly western oriented mindset audience, which probably one can find in Netflix only. If you are one of them, you are gonna have an absolute blast of laughter and fun. Oh ya one more thing, Chetan Bhagat is wasted in this series as the rival writer.

My Take – An ok series.

 

Tabbar – Came out in 2021.  The show charts the journey of a retired police constable who pushes the boundaries to save his family from the consequences of an unfortunate incident.

One of the reviews from IMDB...

In terms of Content, SonyLiv is indeed giving tough competition against the 'Big Boys'

'Tabbar' is vicious, pragmatic and most importantly; it exemplifies (in a quite conscientious manner) what it truly takes to be a 'Patriarch' of a middle-class ordinary family.

"To what length would a man go to protect his family?" A rather realistic portrayal of this exact mentality can be observed here (albeit a bit contentious, I agree); where family comes first under every kind of circumstance you could ever imagine!

Tabbar's undeniable strength lies in its twisted narration, stellar performances and this never-ending air of tension that never allows you to settle! The approach may not scream perfection, and some may as well be doing unnecessary comparisons to other Bollywood/Regional works; still, from my point of view, the execution as a whole inevitably finds its footing and remains resolute until the credits roll.

Not to mention, all that typical, caricaturish drama and so-called Bollywood-ish treatment slowly and gradually die down and only then do we get to witness the true quality underneath.

Now moving on to the deficiencies, alongside the obvious Caricaturish drama, or the Bollywood-ish treatment, the fundamental characterization is probably the most fragile characteristic here. Not taking away anything from the cast, as most of them did respectably well enough (Barring Pawan Malhotra & Supriya Pathak, they were sensational); It's just that the writing on certain characters leaves a lot to be desired!

Had this series provided a bit more time in each one of their philosophies, or made episodes specially designed and dedicated to each one of those central characters; the outcome would have been far more meaningful and justified. I'm telling you all this cause, they did forget to tie up some loose ends. As you shall see!

My Take – A worthwhile watch!

Cheers till next time😊!!

Daffy Definition

Tears – The force by which the masculine will power is defeated by the feminine water power😊!