Showtime Season 1: The Glitz and Glamour of Bollywood
Highlights
Meet Raghu Khanna (Emraan Hashmi), the boisterous, conceited, and ill-mannered apparent heir to Viktroy Studios, the family firm founded by Viktor Khanna (Naseerudddin Shah), with whom Raghu disagrees on filmmaking and the movie industry. Although their studio has seen many ups and downs, Raghu is expected to bring about its demise. Viktor’s attention is suddenly drawn to a young reporter named Mahika Nandy (Mahima Makwana), who disparages their latest movie. Their lives will never be the same after what occurs next.
Release Date
Four episodes of the first season of Disney Plus Hotstar were released on the same day, March 8, 2024. MaybeĀ further episodes will be released soon, even though Part 2 is not yet confirmed. Based onĀ popular shows like Aarya Season 3 and The Night Manager Season 1, Disney Plus Hotstar has been following a recent trend.
Story
Emraan Hashmi’s character Raghu Khanna inherits his father Victor Khanna’s (Naseeruddin Shah) film studio, which was created with a great deal of love and labour. Victor leaves a will that destroys Raghu’s opulent existence after his death. Victor appoints his long-hidden granddaughter Mahika Nandy (Mahima Makwana), an amateur journalist, as the heir to his thriving production company just as he begins to believe that success is close at hand and here to stay. And so starts an ego battle between Raghu and Mahika, which intensifies into a protracted game of challenges, conflicts, controversy, and agony. The programme also functions as a lighthearted parody of the film industry.
Cast
Emraan Hashmi dazzles once more with his acting skills. It’s evident that he has grown as an actor. The actor’s USP is that he has always been at ease in front of the camera. The series’ unexpected element is Mahima Makwana. She plays her part well and has the larger slice. But in the first four episodes, her potential isn’t fully tapped into. Hopefully, the next episodes of the series will showcase more of her acting abilities.
Rajeev Khandelwal then appears as the powerful superstar Armaan. Furthermore, he is an absolute mess! Rajeev, who is frequently included in lists of “performers” in the movie business, defends his role by portraying a star who is conceited, anxious about his place in the business, and a perpetual self-promoter. Despite his best efforts, the actor’s promise in the series is not fully realised.
Moreover, Mouni Roy portrays Yasmin, a young actress and “item song specialist.” In the show, she also portrays Raghu’s romantic interest. The majority of Mouni’s appearances include close-ups of her toned body and sporadic conversations. She appears sporadically throughout the movie, most likely more so than your average blink-and-miss glimpse. Oh, for you, that would be Shriya Saran. There’s also Vijay Raaz in the show. But it appears that his best performance is saved for the upcoming episodes.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Based only on the content that has been released, Showtime performs respectably. Sumit Roy is the series creator and co-writer together with Lara Chandni and Mithun Gangopadhyay. Except forĀ a few, most of the actors under Mihir Desai’s direction have been either miscast or overly experienced for their parts.
While there are plenty of enjoyable moments in the first two episodes of the show, which get off to an intriguing start, the last two are incredibly dull and badly written. Though the execution falls short of expectations, the promise is there. There is an unnecessary domestic violence storyline. It lacks emotional resonance and seems out of place.
There’s minimal attention to detail and a few hurried things happen. A handful of the series’ developments don’t make sense for a show that attempts to portray actual events. It seemed weird to have an inexperienced person take over as CEO of a 40-year-old corporation overnight; this is reminiscent of Bheeshma, starring Nithiin.
Final Verdict
The Fame Game is not yet over for Dharmatic Entertainment (2022, Netflix). Showtime, their most recent offering on Disney+ Hotstar, is another perceptive series delving into the innermost secrets of Bollywood. It swaps The Fame Game’s mystery-thriller elements for pure tabloid pulp, complete with lurid “insider-outsider” chatter and in-house cameos. This show, which stars Mahima Makwana and Emraan Hashmi, is a rather fast and modest affair, unambitious TV that may provide a few hours of gossipy good fun. It is frequently stupid, soapy, and scandalous.
