CAST: Shruti Haasan, Mithun Chakraborty, Gauhar Khan, Satyajeet Dubey, Arjan Bajwa and Sonalee Kulkarni.
DIRECTOR: Mukul Abhyankar
BLUF: Celebrated novelist Tahir Wazir, who is facing writer’s block, meets budding writer Meetu Mathur. She is a huge fan who seeks his guidance. Desperate Tahir decides to use her story for his next novel. Ad film assistant Parth is planning something vicious to destroy Tahir and his close ones. Will he succeed? Will Tahir be able to write his next bestseller? Everything unfolds in 8 chapters
THE MEAT AND THE POTATOES
Tahir Wazir ( Arjan Bajwa) is in celeb bubble where everyone holds him in reverence because he wrote a bestseller. He now has an advance for his next book but has the proverbial writers block where the words don’t seem to flow and characters don’t seem to originate.
He meets a fan, Meetu ( Shruti Hassan) with a quirky backstory that catches his attention and he invites her to share her story with him which he starts writing as the premise of his next book.
His wife, Mayanka is a powerhouse advertising executive who hold his life together against all that happens around them. She works with ex Sanjay and new Exec. Secy named Parth (Satyajeet Dubey). In their perfect world enters Meetu with her sorry story and in perpetual distress. Quick enough Tahir starts sharing more than his story with her and she with him. They get intimate and things start unraveling every soon.
A violent physical attack on Meetu brings Lokesh (Mithun Chakraborty), a veteran Criminal Investigation Department officer in the middle of Wazir’s affairs. With him a cyber-crime expert Urmila (Sonalee Kulkarni) they try to play catch up with a troll on Tweaker ( Twitter with a K) who is trying to bring Wazir down and another profile who defends Wazir with the handle #WazirisGod which Wazir runs himself pretending to be his own fan.
IN THE KNOW
Bestseller has been adapted by Anvita Dutt and Althea Kaushal and directed by Mukul Abhayankar is based on Ravi Subramanian’s 2015 novel The Bestseller She Wrote. Each episode ends with characters looking directly into the camera and suggesting that another chapter of intrigue and revelation is being presented next.
Eight Episodes is a tad bit too long to tell the story however interesting and the delay in presenting the audience hook impairs the effectiveness of the triggers and the hooks of the series. Gauahar Khan and Satyajeet Dubey are extremely well cast. Khan , as we have mentioned before is one of the most under-rated actors in South Asia. This character allows her to present a very layered character which she does with ease.
Mithun is great. Arjan is appropriately suave and impervious to the aftermath of his actions at the same time. The Direction leaves much wanted. Mukul Abhayankar leaves a lot of long winding scenes which could have been made pacier and therefore held the attention of the viewers longer.
Don’t miss the product placement of several Amazon products through the series though.
WHAT WE LOVED
Story
Gauhar
WHAT WE MISSED
Crisper editing
Too long to get to the hook
