'Taaza Khabar' review: Cam, Bam, thank you ma’am

Taaza KhabarOn Hotstar DisneyDIR Himank GaurCAST Bhuvan Bam Shriya PilgaonkarRating 25There is such a thing as the Mumbai of public imaginationmdashitrsquos a living breathing city of clicheacutes although wholly derived from an inanimate thing called cinemashowbiz This is where people speak in the language of khokha crores ghoda gun khaneka peeneka bhai se milnekahellipIt is only in this darkly lit world of predominantly rsquo90s dreams and nightmaresmdashbetween Sadak 1991 and Satya 1998mdashreside as we watch in this series The hustling pimp Shilpa Shukla Chak De India sexworker Shriya Pilgaonkar OTTrsquos current No 1 star her devilish customer JD Chakravarthy remember lsquoSatyarsquo the lover Vasya Bhuvan BamAnd then therersquos the ghetto that surrounds themmdashwith friends for families such as Peter for a Pakiyatype loafer the kindhearted Mehboob Bhai Deven Bhojani lsquoGhansursquo of JJWS makingselling breadIrsquove given you the larger nukkad picture From here on yoursquoll get the drift But you donrsquotmdashwhile you watch the poor lsquoaairsquo mother who works hard as the kaamwali bai also to support the alcoholic patiNone of it comes with any sense of irony It is exactly what it is If we must step out of the rsquo90s on occasion because those were really the roads for Fiats and Ambassadors think of this as an early noughtiesrsquo 20045ish Jannattype MukeshMahesh Bhatt reproductionmdashstarring Emraan Hashmi but without Sufiana songs or sufficient sexItrsquos about a scruffylooking boy who grows rich overnight through shady means dumps his buddies hangs with the highclass in his SclassSure therersquos at least one decent action lsquomoney shotrsquo involving a human head cracking through a wash basin The performers look convinced about the world theyrsquore in as well That merely tells you how good these actors areBecause this is no lsquoBollywood moviersquo for godrsquos sakemdashwhy would it even wanna be unless it was a parody Itrsquos a BBKV production meaning Bhuvan Bam Ke VinesAs in starring in the lead the top desi YouTube sensation This is Delhibased Bamrsquos OTT debut on HotstarDisney Indiarsquos leading streamer Given how expectations donrsquot even vaguely match the outcomemdashthat Internet sensation is more of instant irritation if you ask me What was the expectation to start with anywayAnything even close to Bamrsquos first series that dropped on YouTube during the pandemic Dhindora 2021 by the same director Himank Gaur Even if you werenrsquot an oldtimer of BBrsquos vinesshortvideos which Dhindora was a longform version ofmdashyou could easily recognise Bam as the absolute raja of repartees prince of punditry throwing cracker oneliners after anotherRelying on nothing but right away pulling off 16 characters at one gomdashit got hard to pick the best Bam from among Banchoddas Sameer Fuddi Titu Mama Bablu Janki Mrs Verma Adrak Baba Mr Hola Papa Maakichu Detective Mangloo Dr Sehgal Babli SirhellipHerersquos the lsquoSunil Grover paradoxrsquo though if yoursquod like to call it that With someone so good with spooflike mimingmimicriesmdashdoes it become hard to take the comedian as seriously as the brooding solemn performer with a strong purpose on screen you think Well ask Ali G or Sasha Baron Coen that I guess do catch Cohenrsquos last drama The Trial of Chicago 7 on Netflix if you get the timeBut yeah thatrsquos the point The series Taaza Khabarmdashmercifully merely six episodes long of about half an hour eachmdashis BB being Bollywood in his head To be thought of as a real actor in a real movie as we know reality in movies to be Rather than a YouTuber I supposeThe showrsquos concept is credited to Aziz Dalal the writers are Abbas and Hussain Dalal I donrsquot know if these three are related like the Burmawalla bhais AbbasMustanHussain Hussain Dalal though was the keyboard behind the muchlampooned dialogues of Bollywoodrsquos bigleague BrahmastraWhatrsquos the concept here since itrsquos separately credited in the opening sequence That our main man finds presumably a citybased news app which reports to him events from the future Given this knowledge he can make a lotta money He does including from a KBClike show in a slumlike MumbaiThere isnrsquot a deliberate joke in any of this Some zany characters yes But nobodyrsquos mocking anybody or anything The idea begins to overstay its welcome more or less after itrsquos introducedI must finish the show since Irsquove startedAlso for BB Which I guess is the reason some of the best screen talents surround himmdashlook at Mahesh Manjrekar thatrsquos the guy who made Vaastav 1999 that mustrsquove inspired this showrsquos world tooItrsquos great to watch a YouTuber getting progressively ambitious with his time plus immense talent That way Bam feels like our own boy up there in the mainstream isnrsquot it Surely is Imagine playing with something that looks so strangely stale for an experimental series thoughmdashhe could do with better scripts for sure tooAlso ReadGot to let go after two years of working on it Bhuvan Bam

'Taaza Khabar' review: Cam, Bam, thank you ma’am

Taaza Khabar
On: Hotstar+ Disney
DIR: Himank Gaur
CAST: Bhuvan Bam, Shriya Pilgaonkar
Rating: 2/5

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Home / Entertainment / Web Series / Article / 'Taaza Khabar' review: Cam, Bam, thank you ma’am

'Taaza Khabar' review: Cam, Bam, thank you ma’am

Taaza KhabarOn: Hotstar+ DisneyDIR: Himank GaurCAST: Bhuvan Bam, Shriya PilgaonkarRating: 2/5

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Taaza Khabar
On: Hotstar+ Disney
DIR: Himank Gaur
CAST: Bhuvan Bam, Shriya Pilgaonkar
Rating: 2/5