MUMBAI: Take four beautiful Indian women from the upper class of society who are thick friends. Have them dressed and made up like they are walking the ramp, and at other times have them in the buff, frolicking with various paramours. Follow their romantic and sexual escapades. And of course give them this propensity for quaffing alcohol shots and an inane ability to get their hearts broken again and again, without any lessons being learnt at all.
So what have you got?
Amazon Prime Video’s Four More Shots Please (FMSP) Season 1.
Now put in a lot more heart. Continue with their excessive horniness. Add on layers and growth arcs to their characters. Inject a progressive narrative, while focusing on their strengths and weakness, their successes and their failings, into the script. Make them believable. And this time you have got Four More Shots Please Season 2.
Clearly in its new edition, the chick digital original series is a leap over the first one. Whether it’s writer Devika Bhagat who has put together a lot more soul into each of the four protagonists – Anjana , Damini, Siddhi and Umang Singh - or Nupur Asthana (remember Hip Hip Hooray) who has helmed the 10 episodes, the Pritish Nandy-produced, Ishita-and-Rangita Nandy-show-run series is definitely an improvement over season 1.
The locations and art direction are of course lavish; attention to detail in the sets is remarkable. The Truck Bar appears once again and is almost a character, a prominent host to many more tequila shot drinking and secret sharing sessions. The costumes and the styling are clearly tops.
During FMSP 2, viewers will discover how Siddhi Patel (Maanvi Gagroo) unearths her true calling as a standup comic, that she has a libido which she has to quench and that she is no longer a rich spoilt girl but is now a woman in her own right. Umang Singh (Gurbani) and Samara Kapoor (Lisa Ray) will understand they cannot live without each other and also the true meaning of love. Damini (Sayani Gupta) will go boldly where she has never gone before in her writing as well as her relationship with Aamir Warsi (Milind Soman) and Jeh (Prateik Babbar). Anjana (Kirti Kulhari) will find the going tough in her law firm, strike out on her own, have affairs and finally land up in a soup and feeling guilty as hell.
The series begins with three of the friends in India flying out to meet a hysterical Siddhi in Turkey after being incommunicado with each other for three to four months and follows the individual progress in their lives thereafter.
The performances are laudatory and all the four ladies get a chance to stand out living up to what the roles demand of them. They grow on you and you begin to relate to them, you like them – maybe more so because they sail into uncharted waters, despite the fact that they are bubbling over with doubt and fear. It’s not just about their secret and not-so-secret sexual dalliances, but also about their personal choices. It’s not feminism for the sake of feminism; it is truly about human or woman empowerment and self-esteem. They are vulnerable, and yet brave.
And all four of them – including Lisa Ray - become the character, or the character becomes them. Ditto for the male support cast, which includes Milind and Prateik. Real-life couple Fahad Samar and Simone Singh have short but important brief roles, and they leave a mark as Siddhi’s parents. Neil Bhoopalam as Anjana’s former husband; Prabal Panjabi as Siddhi's painful interest; Sameer Kochchar as the brash lying successful lawyer with a roving eye, complete the notable cast.
Nupur, Devika and dialogue writer Ishita Moitra have also pushed the limits. Yes indeed lesbians do kiss like heterosexuals do, then why not show it openly and be true to what that relationship brings with it? And yes, modern Indian women do swear and utter profanities between themselves or when they are pushed to the wall by chauvinists, so why not show them doing so? And women have their hormonal swings and periods so why not celebrate and flaunt it? Both men and women fart so why not have them portray it on screen as well?
FMSP 2.0 is a portrayal of the modern-day independent, not-so-independent and dependent Indian woman and their interplay in the society we live. And it's been done so that it is believable; while walking the fine line between kitsch and what is right. Yes, there are some clichéd moments –as well as dialogues which at times make you cringe - but have we not a lot of that in successful series emerging internationally, even Hollywood? You also often times wonder and go oh no, why can’t the complex characters of these women be simpler? Why can’t they learn and take the right decisions and not walk right into danger?
The show is packaged well, and is brightly lit, colourful and a good breeze through. In this time of COVID-19 lockdown, if you want to be entertained (without using too much of your rational and thinking faculties) by the antics of gorgeous-looking-and-dressed-to-the-T-yet-flawed women, do navigate your remote to Amazon Prime Video’s FMSP s.2.
Show: Four More Shots Please Season 2
Platform: Prime Video
Cast: Kirti Kulhari, Sayani Gupta, Baani J or Gurbaani, Maanvi Gagroo, Lisa Ray, Milind Soman, Jiya Lakhiani, Neil Bhoopalam, Prateik Babbar, Ankur Rathee, Simone Singh, Amrita Puri, Rajeev Siddhartha, Sameer Kochchar, Shibani Dandekar, Prabal Panjabi.
Director: Nupur Asthana
Written by: Devika Bhagat
Dialogues: Ishita Moitra
Show runners: Ishita and Rangita Pritish Nandy
Producer: Pritish Nandy
Editor: Antara Lahiri
Cinematography: Neha Parti Matiyani
Art Direction: Abhay Bhedasgaonkar
Production Design: Parichit Paralkar
Casting: Shubham Gaur & Trishaan
Makeup: Reann Moradian
Costume Design: Aastha Sharma, Shiraz Siddique and Sagar Tiroltkar
Music: Mikey McCleary
