After watching three seasons of City of Dreams, I hope there is no season 4 of this series. Though I read in the news that the next season may come out in 2025. But why? By Season 3, I am sure many people have already given up on this show. The ones who have not given up on the show yet have given up on Disney+ Hotstar for sure. As we know, Hotstar is already losing subscribers. Thanks to the ads they run for paid subscribers and also, losing HBO and IPL. I, personally, don’t enjoy watching Disney+ Hotstar anymore. One, their web shows are never that great and two, ads. I guess that is the reason why Hotstar is counting on a show that worked for them in the past and keeps renewing it.
Speaking of City of Dreams S3, just like S2, this season is dragged out. The story lost its lustre and that’s the sad part. First season was so well-written and well-directed. Though a few parts looked unnecessary then as well, the main plot was so attention grabbing that you did not bother much about the stories that were unfolding in the background. They somehow connected here and there. But in season 3, the viewers also feel lost. We find it hard to recollect the subplots because they never were important. They were there just for the sake of being there. What was important was the story that unfolds between the Gaikwads. The success of S2 and S3 depended on how tactfully the writers peel the layers and show us what lies beneath. Unfortunately, this unpeeling did not simplify the story. It created a number of complicated knots which even the creators couldn’t untangle. As a result, we, the audience, lost interest in it.
City Of Dreams Story Till Now – Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3
Let’s just stick to the main plot here as the sub plots were anyway not important. If only the writers could have edited them out, we would have gotten a tightly woven story keeping us interested in the show till the end.
In S1, we saw that after Ameya Gaikwad (Atul Kulkarni) was shot, his daughter, Poornima (Priya Bapat) and son, Ashish (Siddharth Chandekar) were next in-line to take on the political duties in their father’s absence. As Ashish is a brat who is a lot into sex and drugs need to be sidelined if the party and family’s reputation is to be saved. Towards the end, we see Poornima, the right heir and a correct leader, takes an extreme step to get rid of Ashish – she plots his murder. With the help of Inspector Wasim Khan (Aijaz Khan) and Ameya Gaikwad’s close aide, CM Jagdish Gurav (Sachin Pilgaonkar), Poornima manages to kill Ashish. Now, here is how and where Season 1 ended. We saw how politics plays a dirty role in personal lives where you cannot trust your own family when it comes to power play.
In Season 2, we see Ameya Gaikwad trying to get back in power but Poornima has already taken over the empire. As it’s about family, she cannot be easily thrown out. As the story progresses, we see that Ameya Gaikwad gets to know that Ashish was killed by Poornima. Now, another battle begins here. It’s not only about the power play now. City of Dreams from here becomes a story of revenge topped with politics. The story then tries to fool us by showing how Ameya Gaikwad is close to Poornima’s teenage son, Amit and is using him as Ashish’s replacement. Due to a few clashes between the mother and son, Amit starts living with his grandfather, Ameya Gaikwad.
Towards the end, we see riots and a bomb blast in which Amit gets killed. Was it an accident or was Amit killed? And if it was a murder, who killed Amit? We were left with many questions but wait, were the answers not obvious?
In S3, we see Poornima is not dealing well with the loss of her only son and hence, has disappeared from Goa where she was resting and recuperating. She is out of politics and also out of the picture. Though Ameya Gaikwad knew about her whereabouts till she was in Goa, he has no idea where she is now. So, he, unofficially, hands over the missing case of his daughter to Wasim Khan as he is the only person she listens to. Within no time, he finds her. From the moment he finds her, you know that there might be a romantic angle in the future between these two. These scenes between Aijaz Khan and Priya Bapat were too stretched. I do not know what the makers wanted to make out of this. Priya Bapat’s dealing with grief is so dramatic, unrelatable, and filmy. The entire season progresses to tell us what we already predicted in S2. The mastermind behind the riots in which Poornima’s son Amit was killed was none other than Ameya Gaikwad.
Inspector Wasim Khan breaks the news to Poornima right when the relationship between the father and daughter is getting better. What next? City of Dreams S3 ends with Poornima trapping and killing her father, Ameya Gaikwad.
It’s kind of a template. Every season builds a story and introduces characters that make no sense going forward only to kill a character from the Gaikwad family in the end. Till now, all the male members from the family have been killed by the lady who was supposed to be a simple and sober house-maker.
What happened to Poornima’s friend and lesbian partner from Season 1? I don’t know if we know it. So many characters and so many plots have been twisted around, so many forgotten and we don’t know who is who anymore.
With so many complications that are going out of hand and also out of our memories, I hope Nagesh Kukunoor and Disney+ Hotstar both decide to end this series with Season 3. But I already see a release date for City of Dreams Season 4. It is said to be releasing in 2025. In that case, next we will see that either Poornima was using Wasim Khan till now or Wasim Khan was getting close to Poornima and became her confidante only for his personal gains. He might have always wanted to kill Ameya Gaikwad and hence the show. We might also see Poornima killing Gurav next as he always knew about the riots in which Amit was killed. Predictable again!
I am not sure if I will or the audience who has been following this show from Season 1 will continue to watch Season 4 and any other season that comes as a follow-up story.
Wow dude, you don’t even have the patience to watch the full show. So, why waste your time writing this misleading crap and why waste our time by dragging us here? We want to read something relevant.
Fortunately, I’m not into cribbing like you. The 4th season prediction of Poornima killing Gurav; well, Gurav already died in the end of season 3. This was just one example out of the many factual mis-information in your review.
Get a life!
That’s the whole point of this review. It’s getting predictable. It’s becoming a template show where in the end, someone from the Gaikwad family gets killed. There’s not even a shock factor in it anymore.
City of Dreams is one of the few political dramas that managed to be different. The writing was good, the direction was excellent and most importantly, in the clutter of shows, it had made a space for itself. When good shows like City of Dreams are stretched just for the sake of having more seasons, they are no longer ‘wanted’ by the audience. With well-known names associated with it, that’s the last thing that should happen.
Interesting to watch every season and episodes..