The first 3 episodes are engrossing. You want to keep watching more but then, to stretch the web series up to next season, a lot of unnecessary backstories of different characters have been added. That is where it starts getting dull. And like every Dharma film, there has to be gay and lesbian characters, their issues, extra-marital affairs, suicide, and what not? So all of the Dharma twists with everything you know about Bollywood comes together in The Fame Game.
I loved Madhuri Dixit and her story in this series. It will constantly remind you of many Bollywood actresses who didn’t want to become a part of the industry but sometimes their mothers and other times, their fate forced them to enter the film industry. And though they hated it to the core till the end, they learned the survival tactics. Anamika Anand’s story in The Fame Game is no different.
Whenever the focus shifts back on Anamika Anand, the way she deals with life, her vulnerabilities, patience, silence, and most importantly, the mother in her; the series truly becomes interesting. The heart-rending story of this larger than life personality was enough to keep the audience hooked. Bringing in a crazy fan and letting him stay the entire web series was not needed when there already were excellent supporting characters like Billy, Anamika Anand’s makeup artist who is family to her. If the writer would have developed Sanjay Kapoor, Suhasini Mulay, and Shubhangi Latkar characters well, then the end would have made much more sense. That would have also helped the writer and director establish an emotional connection between the viewers and the female lead of the series.
A star who is a good human being, a working woman with hectic schedules who is still managing to be a full-time mother to her kids, and yet, a lady with a painful past – this plot in itself was so strong that honestly no other elements were required here. This story can easily be broken into parts. What I mean is the makers needed no extra effort when it came to storytelling in order to stretch it to season 2. If they would have stuck to the primary plot, the story could have unfolded naturally. Nothing would have looked forced or squeezed in.
While every actor has done justice to their characters in the web series, one actor who annoyed me was Rajshri Pandey as ACP Shobha Trivedi. As you can make out from the name, she played the investigating officer in The Fame Game web series. There was nothing wrong with this character but everything was wrong with her acting. I do not mean to offend anyone or be harsh here, but her performance gave me a corpse out of the coffin feeling – straight face, no expression whatsoever, and like every filmy investigating officer, faltu ka attitude. Where everyone fits in so well, she was simply the odd man out for me.
With the points mentioned above, should you still watch The Fame Game? Of course, you should. It has its flaws, no second thoughts about it, but it won’t bore you. If the length of all the recently released web series has started to irk you as well, then this show might not be for you. And if you are a binge-watcher who can watch web series for 8-hours straight, then go ahead. It will entertain you for sure.
P.S: No, The Fame Game is not based on Sridevi’s life but it will constantly remind you of her.
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