'Showtime' web-series review: Emraan Hashmi, Mahima Makwana, and Rajeev Khandelwal standout in this series about the dark side of Bollywood

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Shriya Saran, Mahima Makwana, Rajeev Khandelwal

Director. Archit Kumar

Language: Hindi

Unlike the remarkable Luck By Chance by Zoya Akhtar and the meticulous Jubilee by Vikramaditya Motwane, Showtime, from the kitchens of Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment, begins rather restlessly. There’s a voiceover by the filmmaker and Naseeruddin Shah that talks about cinema being a religion more than just a profession. And all of a sudden we see a window pane broken, a giant photo right through the glasses, an exasperated film producer Raghu (Emraan Hashmi), and an inevitable flashback to bring all the pieces together.

The restlessness retains itself in the flashback too when a journalist Mahika Nandi (Mahima Makwana) is pressurized (read bribed) into giving Raghu’s new film a four star rating in exchange for a brand new phone. She’s tensed and worried, and it’s hard to decode what she’s thinking in that moment. Is this against her ethics or is she too enticed to give this a shot? Given the army of critics that have hijacked social media, one review going viral with comments popping on the screen and subscribers shooting to more than 20K feels far-fetched.

Of Egos and Tantrums

Rajeev Khandelwal plays superstar Armaan, and his character gets an amusing yet solid introduction shot. It’s anything but larger than life, he’s actually asleep and refuses to wake up. He’s almost in the same vein as Govinda from Happy Ending, who wishes to please both the multiplexes and single-screens. There are creative arguments between him and the producer, and the scene shows that bigger the stardom, more fragile the egos.

Naseeruddin Shah Does It Again

Why has Naseeruddin Shah not patented the narrative of leaving spouses and children behind till now? The infallible actor has played both loving and callous husband and father in many of his outings in the past, right from Masoom to Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara to Main Hoon Na to now Showtime. He’s the ultimate anti-family man, and the best bet for the makers to cast him as someone who not only wrongs but gets wronged too.

The Spirit And Stars Of Showtime

Showtime tilts more towards the attitude of Raghu Khanna than the undying spirit and passion of Victor, played by Shah. His labor of love has just bombed as it was four hours long, and Hashmi believes in giving the audiences two hours of unadulterated entertainment. It’s also ironic he wishes to bribe reviewers but also slams box-office collections on their face when they criticize his film. This is not a narrative flaw but the grim reality of the industry tucked beneath the sheets, and Hashmi carries the conceit and charisma of Raghu well. Makwana has a meaty role to essay, a film critic-turned-scion of a sprawling and iconic film studio now gasping for investors and struggling to complete their films. Director Archit Kumar shoots Makwana in close-ups multiple times, especially her shaking leg, establishing her restlessness. She’s fierce but equally fragile.

The Inevitability Of Insecurity

Khandelwal’s character is a walking blind item and we are left to figure out who the star is the actor embodies with all the juiciness. His abode is called Jannat and the nameplate has a shockingly accurate resemblance to ahem ahem… He thinks of himself as God, is severely insecure of his wife (an underutilized Shriya Saran) and his co-star from a historical. And again, these are not wild stretches but could be the alarming nuances of the bigwigs of Bollywood.

Showtime is split into two parts. The final episode ends with a scandal that spills the conflict over the upcoming episodes. It’s called Shit Show. Fortunately, the show is anything but.

Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)

Showtime is now streaming on Disney Plus Hotstar