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Many things came to my mind when I saw hostages on Hotstar.
The old sayings like “Ghar ka bhedi Lanka dhaye” or even “Khoda pahad nikla chuha.”
Though Hostages is extremely enjoyable and worth binge watching, it is also fairly improbable. It is the story of an upper-class family, the Dad is a principal of a well-known school and also a compulsive gambler, the mother is a senior doctor at a reputed hospital, the teenage son is a hacker whose hormones are not under control and the daughter.. not yet out of her teens, is pregnant. They are held hostages by a group of four kidnappers.
The kidnappers are also true to type. The Head is sensible and though seemingly harsh, has kindness running through him. The second kidnapper is a brawny brainless huge Hulk, always ready to pick up a fight and is always ready to make out with the third kidnapper who is a woman who is double-crossing her boss. The fourth kidnapper is a baby faced young bumbling boy already in love with the daughter of his hostages.
The house is not kidnapper friendly as there are computers mobiles lying but somehow the hostages don’t use them.
None of the scenes makes you sit on the edge. It is definitely not a gripping thriller, but there are some lovely moments between the father Parvin Dabas and the son, even between the mom Tisca Chopra and her daughter. Tisca Chopra gives a very measured performance as the woman who is not fazed and is constantly trying to beat the kidnappers at their own game and is doing her own bit of sleuthing. Ronit Roy as the policeman turned kidnapper also does a fine job with the right degree of sensitivity and harshness. After Sacred games, some explicit sex scenes have become mandatory in every web series even if not needed. So in this also, there is a tiny sprinkling of sex scenes. The house where they are held hostage is beautiful and remains beautiful…no flowing ashtrays, no dirty cups and no Swiggy… the meals cooked at home and a magic wand keeps it clean! The last episode is aptly called a ‘matter of choice’ and we are whatever choices we make.
The series has been written by Akriti Goel, Madhura Dalimbkar, Mayuk Ghosh, Nisarg Mehta, Shiva Bajpai and Suraj Gianani. The series marks the digital debut of Sudhir Mishra, one of Bollywood’s most revered filmmakers. Created by Applause Entertainment, it features Tisca Chopra and Ronit Roy as leads with Parvin Dabas, Aashim Gulati, Mohan Kapoor, Malhaar Rathod, Sharad Joshi, Dalip Tahil, Surya Sharma, Anangsha Biswas in pivotal roles.
Watch it if you like these actors. As for the story, it could’ve been treated better!
The image is a still from the show Hostages
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