Showtime

Showtime (Season 1) is a Hindi-language drama on Disney+ Hotstar... the series dives into the glitzy but cut-throat world of Bollywood. The seven-episode season explores power struggles, nepotism, and personal betrayals at Viktory Studios, a fictional studio set in present day Mumbai. It offers a glossy, soapy take on the film industry, and no wonder it ranked among India's top-streamed shows in 2024.

The narrative blends family drama and industry intrigue, and feels like a Bollywood Succession but lacks the latter's sharp wit. Compared to Indian series like Made in Heaven, Showtime's pacing is brisk but uneven, with a slow start and a rushed finale, unlike Mirzapur's relentless intensity. Themes of ambition, legacy, and morality are engaging but less nuanced than Sacred Games.

The cast, including Mouni Roy and Rajeev Khandelwal, delivers strong performances, though Hashmi's brooding role feels typecast. Production values are high, with vibrant visuals evoking Bollywood's glamour, but the score is unmemorable compared to Heeramandi's grandeur.

Showtime entertains with its insider references (e.g., cameos mirroring real-life stars) but lacks the emotional depth of Panchayat or the cultural commentary of The Night Of.

For Indian audiences, it appeals to Bollywood fans but feels formulaic next to Paatal Lok's grit. English-language parallels like The Morning Show offer tighter storytelling, while Showtime's melodrama aligns with Indian soaps. It's a fun, flawed binge for adults, recommended for those craving Bollywood drama but not a must-rewatch like Succession.

Lemme adding this seriously but the casting is fully wrong as because in my POV, the casting is wrong but reversed also and I think the story shows the real side of the Film Industry and the stardom of the Actors and Actresses. The direction and production is all right but the plot and casting needs to be improved as because negativity roles for Emraan doesn't suits him. The anger suits in Emraan but not the villian role. But overall the series is good and worth of watching but if any sequel/prequel is releasing after this, there must be improvement in casting, direction and on the Storyline of the series.

Personal Rating 7.5/10

Being a pure filmiholic, it is only natural that I would love this web series on celebrity life, dark secrets of the film world and the hype of Bollywood. Emraan Hashmi gave a great performance, he single handedly stole the limelight in the series. It is completely ridiculous that the dark secrets of Bollywood would be revealed in such a way in any Bollywood series, that is why I thoroughly enjoyed the series. There is no chance of being boring, this series can be seen in one sitting.

Overall, it goes without saying that this is a must-watch series for those who are always into the filmy world. Waiting now for June, gonnaa wating to see part 2!💛🎬

The concept and story were par excellence. I was very excited for this show. Full marks for the concept. But the execution failed miserably. Were not able to convey what they had envisioned. In fact they completely missed the mark and were too rash without enough build-up for any character or any story.

Visuals are excellent. That scene where Vijay Raaz proposes his son's launch to Mahima in exchange for help, that whole sequence was a visual treat. Rajeev and Vijay out perform everyone else.

This could had easily become one of the best shows if Karan Johar was involved whole heartedly into this project in order to deliver.

Frankly speaking this show had a lot going for it specially in terms of the cast except Mahima and her weird facial expressions, had they put more effort into Mahikas character and casted a competent actor to play the lead instead of Mahima it would have been a decent show, what a let down she is.

Now the good things- Rajeev Khandelwal does his part effortlessly and Imran is good too but he couldn't hold himself in font of Naseer Sahab but honestly very few actors can.

All the other supporting cast is good specially Vijay Raaz and every one did their part nicely.

A more crisp and stremlined storyline would have helped the case.