'Showtime' Pt 2 Review: Emraan Hashmi Show Can't Rise Above Its Premise

"Mahika (Mahima Makwana) is sure to have her Devil Wears Prada moment where she becomes part of the problem. The glitz and the glamour might get to her, she might lose track of her own vision,” I wrote for the first part of Showtime season 1. And it pretty much summarises the second part – what you expected is probably what you’ll get.

But first, a refresher – A producer Viktor (Naseeruddin Shah) leaves his empire Viktory Studios behind for a young journalist Mahika instead of his heir apparents Raghu Khanna (Emraan Hashmi). Victor and Raghu were at loggerheads because their ideas of ‘cinema’ differed and a different fate doesn’t await Raghu with Mahika.

The first part introduced several different characters – a struggling model with a secret (Mouni Roy as Yasmin), a self-absorbed actor gearing for his magnus opus (Rajeev Khandelwal as Armaan), a female actor in hopes of a comeback (Shriya Saran as Mandira), and a shady but powerful financier (Vijay Raaz). The main appeal of Showtime came from its premise – a look into Bollywood and if gossip threads are to be believed, people adore insider gossip.

And the show is aware of this appeal, the little cheeky digs at the industry make that obvious –Armaan’s house is called ‘Jannat’ and a nifty bit about winning National awards makes it into the second part. The problem with Showtime is that it’s all setup and barely any returns. The show is actually at its best when it’s focused on the set pieces where we see how the industry functions (in the ‘fictional space’ of course).

Hashmi and Khandelwal are still the highlights when it comes to the cast (Vijay Raaz is commendable too but this role feels like something we’ve seen Raaz do multiple times). Emraan Hashmi bites into the role with aplomb, imbibing every little shift in his constantly switching motivations into his performance. One of the best things about the show is that it doesn’t give any of its grey characters redemption arcs – any possible redemption is postured as a ‘performance’. It’s in parts like this where the show’s potential shines through.

Khandelwal is a delight as the egocentric superstar – while his dialogues are meant to sound structured, Khandelwal does enough to betray the character’s actual motivations. While Roy and Saran get more to do in the second half than they did earlier, there still isn’t much to talk about with their characters. Saran delivers a fine performance as Mandira and Roy gets a chance to display the way she practically speaks through her expressions alone. Some of the emotional outbursts, however, don’t have the intended impact.

Makwana, on the other hand, does get the hang of her character towards the end – especially with regards to Mahima’s realisation that her morals are clashing with her desire to win. There is no lack of effort on the actor’s part but some fine-tuning would do the character good especially since she is technically expected to carry part of the show on her shoulders.

Showtime borrows from real life and yet wants to stay in a world outside real life – consequences to actions are only influenced by the people in the show even when the ‘public’ is included in the story line. That sounds confusing, I apologise, let me expand.

For instance, when the show (rightfully) looks into how women in the industry are trolled for decisions they make in their personal life, it shifts the arc primarily into a ‘conspiracy’. It doesn’t bother to look into the misogyny female actors face on the daily which is only a reflection of what women face on the internet (and in general) on the daily. It’s perhaps this lack of attention to detail or nuance that keeps these characters from becoming more than the archetypes they’re fit into.

The twists and turns, the backstabbing, the few scenes where we see how power (both financial and ‘star’ power) affects the people around them, and the little PSA into how the film industry (with all its glitz and glamour) is still a ‘job’, all come together to keep Showtime interesting.

It’s camp, it’s pulpy and it’s definitely still binge-worthy but you can’t ignore the voice in the back of your head that keeps telling you the show could’ve been more.