Tandav – amazon prime video’s latest production is all over the internet. Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, the political web series is the first big OTT release of 2021 of Indian origin. With huge actors like Dimple Kapadia, Saif Ali Khan, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sunil Grover among others in main roles, the audience had high expectations.
The most awaited OTT release didn’t receive the best reviews from the critics. However, Tandav – amazon prime video production received a lot of bad publicity. It’s covered with controversies that unfolded in the last two-three days.
The series tried to be a thrilling political drama but suffered from a setback. With obvious statements and implausible twists, it somewhat failed to achieve the appreciation it craved. The show has elements of soap opera with dialogues and twists pointing towards it.
THE REEL AND REAL SHOW
It portrayed some obvious similarities between the reel and the real screen. Vivekananda National University (VNU) portrayed as a left-dominated political unit is too real for the Jawaharlal National University (JNU). What catches the attention is the name Vivekananda. Recently, the students of JNU strongly opposed the establishment of the Vivekananda statue in the University. This is considered a strong similarity.
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The web series didn’t shy from giving some obvious references. Be it using the term VNU, student politics to using the term outsider. However, we can hear the professor played by Dino Morea saying “Politics science is the study of politics” to the students of M.A. Political Science students. It made us do that side stare.
The student activist Shiva is all too real for Kanhaiya Kumar, JNU’s left-wing political leader. Instead of Kanhaiya, the name of God Shiva is used.
CHARACTERS
The plotline of characters running behind the post of Prime Minister can be called childish but no one can deny that this is the reality. It clearly showed how politics is all about power. Amidst all the drama, the amazon prime video web series unfolds with Saif Ali Khan, son of Prime Minister Devki. He aspires to become the Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy.
Samar Pratap Singh, the youth politician played by Saif Ali Khan is a suspicious personality. The first person who warns about him is his father Devki Nandan. Ahead of his third term as the Prime Minister of the country used the word Taanashah for his son and mentioned that Samar will divide this country. It creates evil and strong notions.
The villainous side was not typically shown in the Tandav – amazon prime web series. It shows how a calm face and soft-spoken personality can have evil roots. Indeed, Khan wasn’t successful in bringing that typical evil stares or expressions. But an evil person doesn’t need to be that stereotypical. It’s praiseworthy, how Saif played that role.
Gopal Das Munshi played excellently by Gopal Das Munshi is worth applause. The Indian theatre and film actor play the role of a close friend of Devki Nandan. In one instance, he is shown saying that he came into politics to show an arrogant woman that the country doesn’t belong to her father. The hint at Indira Gandhi and the Congress government is a strong move on behalf of the writer and the Director.
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Dimple Kapadia played the role of Anuradha Kishore, who doesn’t miss a step in getting into the character. She plays the character of a politician who is rarely taken seriously due to her affair with a more powerful man, Devki Nandan.
The well-played character misses touching the not because of average scenes and dialogues. It’s silly to show her sob over a dinner plate. To sum up, the character attracts sympathy.
Sunil Grover did a terrific job in the Tandav – Amazon Prime video web series. He performed the role of Gurpal Singh having a strange laugh, who is addicted to the pravachans of TV godman.
The student activist of the fictional VNU, Shiva is played by Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub. The actor went too far with the character that Shiva seemed a bit over the top. The opening scene where he is shown holding a Trident, blue face paint, and playing the role of the god Shiva gathered a lot of controversies and criticism.
NOTHING NEW OR THRILLING IN THE DIALOGUES
It’s written by Gaurav Solanki, who is associated with a film like Article 15. The plotline tries to portray a high-class, thrilling political drama but certainly fails to provide the audience with those thrills. It points out various hot-buttons of politics. The web series tried to cover numerous issues like farmers’ strike, violence at the university campus by the policemen, the portrayal of student activism, Muslims being victimized, internal conflicts between parties and political families.
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Tandav – Amazon prime web series touched all the major topics but failed to do deep research on any of them. Varied small packets of drama were shown in the series. A wise choice would have been to focus on just a single issue and portray a deep analysis of the same.
CONCLUSION
Tandav is nothing compared to other political offerings on Netflix and Amazon in terms of cinematography and dialogues. It’s running from left to right but misses the presence of Centre. However, it tried its best to show real-world politics, telling us that nothing is black and white. There is a complicated history behind some seemingly straight forward events. There is a big game being played in power politics. But the ones who sacrifice their life, friendship, love, and respect are the citizens of the country.
The Tandav – Amazon web series is criticized as it “mocked” the Hindu god Ram. However, is it really about the honor of God or the government’s fears of being exposed? The series is all about the harsh realities and the ones involved would not “like” being shown. So, do they fear the portrayal of Hindu gods or their tactics being exposed?
No matter how average or slightly above the show is, it has gained enough attention in the last few days.
