Binge watching web series is the new mantra and the new generation is hooked to it. As many of these web series or web shows are creating new pop culture icons and fueling the “meme culture”, references to the dialogues, characters or events in these shows are part of the day to day communication. This is making it mandatory for everyone to watch these to be relevant in the conversations between friends.
This soon moved to official apps like Netflix, Amazon. In India, Hotstar Digital Streaming platform is ruling due to its sports content and international series. But now the big content makers and license holders also jumped in the digital streaming platform war and launched their own platforms like Eros Now, Alt Balaji, Voot and recently ZEE5.
ZEE5, while being strong in their library of TV content, also has a strong portfolio of Bollywood as well as regional movies. Like TV, their focus is more on regional content which is a wise decision in my opinion. More digital exclusive regional content will force more users to opt for digital platforms.
Regional language original programming has always been a strength of ZEE and one of their strongholds is in Marathi language content. So since the launch of ZEE5 Digital Streaming Platform, it was obvious that they will come out with Original web series in the Marathi Language.
Though there is a successful fiction web series on youtube named “Struggler Sala” and non-fiction show “Casting Couch with Amey and Nipun” by BhaDiPa which is very popular, an official original web series by a renowned platform had not been done yet. ZEE5 changed it with the launch of its 1st Marathi Original Web Series, “Date with Saie”.
“Date with Saie” was released on December 5 on ZEE5 platform. It stars Marathi Film Star Saie Tamhankar playing herself ie a successful movie star, and newcomer Rohit Kokate who impressed with his performance in “Jawoon Kaha Bata ke Dil” by Adish Keluskar, screened at MAMI 2018 Film Festival. It is a 9 episode series with each episode being around 20-26 mins.
The series is a story of a self-declared filmmaker obsessed with Saie who thinks he will make a very real movie by shooting the actress without her knowledge. He plans and creates situations where the hero of his film (which he plays himself) is a Singapore based NRI who coincidentally bumps into Saie in her damsel in distress moments and saves her. He befriends her and plans to propose to her. What happens after that is a story of an antihero who is obsessed with the notion that “Director is God”.
The series starts on a brilliant note introducing Saie and her stardom and the 1st episode ends on an intriguing cliffhanger where she is kidnapped by Raghunath, the self-proclaimed director who feels cinema looks fake when it is not shot in real ways.
Then the narrative switches between the current timeline of kidnapping, chase and escape, etc and the past timeline where it shows the story of how Raghunath befriends Saie disguised as Himanshu and becomes a part of her life. The past timeline also exposes the viewer to the fact that it is all part of Raghunath’s film script and he is shooting her stealthily with the help of his assistant Vyankya (Pravin Prabhakar).
The problem arises because of the tone of these 2 tracks is completely opposite. While the current track is gritty, dark and apt to the thriller genre, the past track meanders between a love story and comedy. The sidekick Vyankya is too much a comical relief for a promised thriller.
Each episode starts with a hard-hitting segment and then immediately we are presented with the beautiful title video (intro) which has a comic strip treatment with a peppy music. The fact that there is no “skip intro” button like Netflix or Amazon breaks the tone in first place. Then again the premise is based on such a flimsy ground that many dialogues and situations fail in suspension of disbelief.
Saie is brilliant in playing different shades of her character. She portrays the perfect professional at the shooting sets, a normal human being trying to run her life, chasing busy schedule, changing home, being a perfect host to cosy celebrity friend circle and looks like a billion bucks while doing so.
The real revelation of this series is Rohit Kokate, a brilliant actor whose other film from this year, “Jaoon Kaha Bata ye Dil,” may be restricted to festival circle due to its bold content. So this series will always be credited with introducing Rohit to the audience. He is suave and dapper as NRI Himanshu and terrifying as obsessed Raghunath. Sometimes his character lacks author backed dialogues, making him come across as unconvincing, but he tries to cover it up with his performance. Here is an actor to look forward.
Pravin Prabhakar as Vyanka is a little overboard, Ashish Pathare as Saie’s Manager Kamat is good and Prashant Uthale as a cop is average.
Dynanesh Zoting as a writer-director shows promise but the tonal quality and flimsy premise restrict the content from being explored to its full potential. Maybe it would have been better if the series had only 6 episodes and the lighter parts could have been toned down a bit to go with the gritty themes of the current track. Nevertheless, he has done a decent job considering this is a new medium.
Cinematography by Satyajeet Shobha Shreeram, Music by Neelesh Mandalapu and editing by Mayur Hardas puts together a quality product. Production design by Amit Waghchaure is inconsistent. It is good at most places and could have been better at others.
The best part of this series is the duration of each episode which makes the viewer ignore the flaws in the writing. Keeping it around 22-26min makes it ideal snacking material and can be easily recommended for lite bingeing. It comes with English subtitles so can be watched by non-Marathi language audience too.
“Date with Saie” is thought not the best but still a welcome start in the Marathi webverse.