Director: Shujaat Saudagar
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Avinash Tiwary, Nivedita Bhattacharya, Kritika Kamra, Amyra Dastur, Saurabh Sachdeva, Nawab Shah, Jitin Gulati, Vivan Bhathena
Where: Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Rating: 2.5 stars
Inspired from author/journalist S. Hussain Zaidi’s Dongri To Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia, which chronicles the rise and the rule of the underworld over Mumbai city, showrunners Shujaat Saudagar and Rensil D’Silva make a sincere effort to deliver an earnest screen adaptation with Amazon Prime Video’s latest web series Bambai Meri Jaan.
With a song from the famous 1956 film C.I.D starring Johnny Walker providing its title, the show, however, attempts to centre itself around the ideological differences between two generations of a family and how the clash of their ideals can burn a city, at stake.
Ismail Kadri (Kay Kay Menon) is an honest police officer with unquestionable loyalty towards his job and his country. He is tasked with the responsibility to curb the growing clout and influence of Haji (Saurabh Sachdeva) and his trusted aide Pathan (Nawab Shah). His honest-to-a-fault ideals find unflinching support from his wife Sakina (Nivedita Bhattacharya) but annoys just about everyone else around him including his younger son Dara (Avinash Tiwary). In his first attempt, Kadri and his special squad are able to foil Haji’s major gold smuggling attempt. Things go downhill when another such mission costs Kadri his job and his integrity. Meanwhile, Dara is fascinated by the riches that a life of not being a law-abiding citizen promises. This glaring difference gradually brings father and son at loggerheads and the battle of good over evil begins.
To look at the show with fairness and objectivity, it must be certainly appreciated that the makers try very hard to not adopt a conventional screenplay in setting the plot. From the Shootout franchise to Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, we have seen how the most enigmatic and dreaded gangsters emerge from a place of poverty. Back in the 60s too, crony capitalism loomed large forcing many impoverished families to resorting to lives filled with crime. But Saudagar and D’Silva are careful about never displaying their characters as sorry figures. Unfortunately, what largely works against the show is it’s pacing because the premise comes across as predictable. Divided across ten episodes with each episode’s runtime ranging between 35-50 mins, it is natural that the viewer would want the story to get to a point sooner than it does. But the excessive indulgence on the part of the makers is what costs the show dearly because too much time is invested in capturing the characters’ mundane routines. Equally jarring is the accompanying background score against key sequences. A traditional Konkani song playing against the backdrop of a cricket match featuring school boys can easily disconnect the viewer from the show.
Must you still choose to watch the show, if the luxury of time permits you, its solely because the performances put together by the actors do not disappoint. Menon is riveting as Kadri. He internalises his character’s angst and disappointment against the system and only an actor as nuanced as Menon can pull this off. Sachdeva paints a picture of empathy and menace at equal turns as Kadri. Bhattacharya is brilliant as Sakina. As one who is conflicted between being a loyal wife and an affectionate mother, her performance is a tightrope walk. Tiwary infuses confusion and naivety in Dara with conviction, leading to a performance worth staying engaged with. Kritika Kamra tries earnestly to establish solid presence as Habiba but she succeeds occasionally
Given its source material and an able star cast in hand, the makers could have easily delivered a compelling show. Sadly, Bambai Meri Jaan falls short of thrills and excitement leading itself to be lethargic affair.
