Bombay Begums review :
Released on Netflix earlier this month, Bombay Begums got in to an ongoing controversy for its alleged drug abuse involving children as well as immoral relationships. Frankly, as a viewer, these things least bother me as long as the filmmaker has an entertaining story to tell. Something which can grip you till the end. Unfortunately, Alankrita Shrivastava's six episode web-series is over-stretched to extent that it exhausts itself within the first two to three episodes.
The plot revolves around a medium sized bank whose CEO Rani (Pooja Bhatt) is battling the internal politics along with her nagging menopause. She re-hires a fired fresher Ayesha (Plabita Borthakur) for a new CSR project which involves rehabilitation of a prostitute Lily (Amruta Subhash) who lives for her child's future. Fatima (Shahana Goswami) is finding it tough to balance the hectic worklife with her impending motherhood but nevertheless, takes the call to get promoted after Rani persuades her.
Next, the creepy male CEO aspirant (Manish Chaudhary, effective) lays his hands on unsuspecting Ayesha while Fatima falls for the charms of her firangi client and cheats on her hubby (Vivek Gomber). Meanwhile, Rani's step daughter Shai (Aadhya Anand) has a drug overdose at a friends party.
One interesting fact about Bombay Begums is that all its characters - big or small and male or female - have grey shades to them. No one is swanky clean; no one is disgustingly evil either. They are flawed persons vying for name and existence in this material world. Ayesha is shown a bisexual who is struggling with her preferences. Fatima loves her hubby but still gives in to the temptation of a torrid affair. Shai is a confused soul who speaks through her art and misses her dead mommy to point of living a fantasy.
Alankrita's characters are well etched but the screenplay is so overlong that you lose attention after the first three episodes. The sex scenes get repetitive. So does all that corporate world mumbo jumbo. A crisp four episode series would've made Bombay Begums infinitely better...and recommendable. As for the drug abuse bit, Madhur Bhandarkar's Page 3 (2005) had more shocking scenes than the one depicted here. That film won a National award while poor Begums is on verge of getting banned. Truly unnecessary!!
All said and seen, the series' biggest positive are the brilliant performances from the girl gang - all of them. Pooja Bhatt and Shahana Goswami are clear standouts and it feels great to see Pooja back in action after being relegated to a photograph in pappa Mahesh's Sadak 2 last year. Pooja Bhatt rocks. Unfortunately, Bombay Begums don't!!
Regards,
Sumeet Nadkarni.
