February 2025 will be remembered for a veteran filmmaker descending into the digital domain, landing not so smoothly. Sooraj Barjatya, the ‘show runner’ of Bada Naam Karenge seemed confused on what it really wanted to show.
A couple about to get married had a BIG SECRET(rolling of the eyes) to hide: you see, they spent some days during the COVID lockdown under the same roof! Not the same room or bed, mind it! The entire show hinged on that one allegedly oops moment while hordes of Taujis and Buas sauntered in and out of the endless stretches of space provided by the incredibly generous OTT platform.
The kindest thing that can be said about this 9-episode homage to Rajshri Productions’ sanskari series is that it worked better than the last time Sooraj Barjatya tried to keep with the times in Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon. Tonally and in terms of updating the typical joint family, creaky limbs and all, Bade Naam Karenge on SonyLIV got it right , at least some of the time.
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Dabba Cartel on Netflix and Ziddi Girls on Amazon were the other highlights of last month. Dabba Cartel had the most impressive lineup of female actors since Heeramandi , though the ladies in Dabba Cartel were dressed to kill in a way very different from Heeramandi. The loose ends and blind spots in the stretched out narration were, to an extent, excusable when weighed against the barrage of performing plenitude.
The same goes for Ziddi Girls, though on a lower scale. Crime Beat on Zee5 was a solid revival ground for the ailing streaming platform. Again driven by some (though not all) enforcing performances, Crime Beat got right the backroom chats in news channels , though some of the writing could have been more clenched.
One notices a burgeoning quality consciousness on the OTT platform, facilitated no doubt by the audiences’ growing intolerance towards mediocrity. Put simply no one is going to tolerate trash just because it is streaming at home.
