To commemorate the birth centenary of Satyajit Ray, Directors SriJit Mukherjee, Abishek Chaubey and Vasan Balaa have chosen 4 iconic Ray short stories and have transformed them into present day stories.
The selection of the stories to represent the first season is impeccable, These are the most read short stories of Ray and hence the challenge to reconstruct them in the present milieu while keeping the core intact is indeed a huge challenge. The first two adaptations fall very short of that requirement. Spotlight hits some right spots but Hungama get it spot on and creates quite an Hungama.
Ali Faizal in Forget Me Not is good, The story is taut and the suspense is alive till the end, however, it does not quite measure up.
Kay Kay Menon as bahurupiya - again good, but with poor prosthetics his act becomes a caricature. The peer baba steals the thunder and Bahurupiya ends in a whimper.
Manoj Bajpayee as Musafir Ali is in his element and he has a lively tango with Gajaraj Rao. The sweep of the story is spellbinding and among the four this is the story that stays with you.
Spotlight as a theme has been much beleaguered and to remain interesting is no mean task. Good attempt but not quite there. The episode is more a campaign for kitsch and heroism ends up limping to the winning post.
Agreed it is a mammoth task to measure up to the colossus' creation. The biggest flaw in the process has been the complete loss of Indianess (except Hungama , which is why it redeems itself). Forget me not and spotlight look like sham Hollywood stories . The images and language (especially the language , I am sure Ray would be wincing in his grave) are too loud and garish to settle comfortably in a short story format. Plus, they have been shorn of the classism and finesse Ray gives his narration and characters (using humour which is mostly dark, wry but not puerile) . Its just half way there and i see the empty glass more....... PS: Only "ki...li...peto...menia" will not do, it takes more to own something! 😁
The selection of the stories to represent the first season is impeccable, These are the most read short stories of Ray and hence the challenge to reconstruct them in the present milieu while keeping the core intact is indeed a huge challenge. The first two adaptations fall very short of that requirement. Spotlight hits some right spots but Hungama get it spot on and creates quite an Hungama.
Ali Faizal in Forget Me Not is good, The story is taut and the suspense is alive till the end, however, it does not quite measure up.
Kay Kay Menon as bahurupiya - again good, but with poor prosthetics his act becomes a caricature. The peer baba steals the thunder and Bahurupiya ends in a whimper.
Manoj Bajpayee as Musafir Ali is in his element and he has a lively tango with Gajaraj Rao. The sweep of the story is spellbinding and among the four this is the story that stays with you.
Spotlight as a theme has been much beleaguered and to remain interesting is no mean task. Good attempt but not quite there. The episode is more a campaign for kitsch and heroism ends up limping to the winning post.
Agreed it is a mammoth task to measure up to the colossus' creation. The biggest flaw in the process has been the complete loss of Indianess (except Hungama , which is why it redeems itself). Forget me not and spotlight look like sham Hollywood stories . The images and language (especially the language , I am sure Ray would be wincing in his grave) are too loud and garish to settle comfortably in a short story format. Plus, they have been shorn of the classism and finesse Ray gives his narration and characters (using humour which is mostly dark, wry but not puerile) . Its just half way there and i see the empty glass more....... PS: Only "ki...li...peto...menia" will not do, it takes more to own something! 😁