The twisty drama’s core mystery is easily deduced while the show spends too much time showing audiences what’s behind the curtain.
Bestseller review: An arrogant writer’s comeuppance is stretched to unbelievable lengths
Cinestaan Rating
Release Date: 18 Feb 2022
Sonal Pandya | Mumbai, 19 Feb 2022 0:15 IST
Hindi author Tahir Wazir (Arjan Bajwa) has had crippling writer’s block for 10 years, when a sudden meeting with admiring fan Meetu Mathur (Shruti Haasan) turns his head. The young woman with a traumatic past has three scars on her right wrist, each one with a fantastical tale of survival.
Soon, Wazir is impressed enough to turn her into his assistant and bring her into his sanctum as he begins to write again. His wife, ad filmmaker Mayanka Kapoor (Gauahar Khan), is suspicious, but she has a production house to run, so she leaves him be.
In due course, the couple is drawn into a public maelstrom where each is under suspicion as Meetu is assaulted and Mayanka’s business partner is murdered, drawing attention from ACP Lokesh Pramanik (Mithun Chakraborty).
On the verge of retiring, Pramanik’s jovial demeanour hides his resolve to get to the bottom of the case and see why Wazir is receiving threats and seems to be linked to some nefarious activities. But while the characters are trying to find out whom to trust, the audience is clued in early with easy clues that makes the eight-episode series drag. No one on the show asks the right questions until it’s too late.
Satyajeet Dubey’s Parth, as Mayanka’s employee, acts suspicious from the moment he appears on the scene. There is no subtlety in the way his character is presented. Haasan’s Meetu is an enigma, but is she a victim or is she pulling a page out of Stephen King’s Misery?
Wazir is an arrogant, boorish man who only thinks of himself and his career. Hitting the jackpot with the novel ‘Raand, Saand, Seedhi, Sanyasi’, he coasts on its success. It is no surprise when he is targeted and made an example of. He selfishly, though, continues to think of himself as the victim.
Directed by Mukul Abhyankar, the series is adapted from Ravi Subramanian’s novel The Bestseller She Wrote. The author has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo. Co-writers Althea Kaushal and Anvita Dutt don’t try to hide the big twists of the show and, frustratingly, make it a point to lift the lid each time a revelation occurs.
This is an increasing problem in Indian films and series made for OTT where storylines are explained and nothing is left to the viewer's imagination. It’s as if the makers can’t allow us to use our brains for this.
But as Wazir’s comeuppance unfolds episode by episode, I wondered, how do these characters fund themselves? Wazir seems to live on his wife’s earnings, in a sprawling Mumbai flat, with balcony views that only seem plausible on screen. Parth’s vendetta and his plan of action against the author seem unbelievable.
In fact, quite a few of the on-screen activities seem unbelievable as the show’s villains flout the rules and escape right under the nose of the law. From the cast, Khan’s Mayanka is the only one to earn any empathy. When she finally calls her husband a parasite, I felt like clapping.
Shruti Haasan and Dubey are watchable even as their characters feel ridiculous. They are also required to break the fourth wall often to remind us what ‘chapter’ of the series we are on. Chakraborty flits in and out as the wise old police veteran, but he, too, makes little impact.
Bajwa fits the bill as the selfish Wazir but is stuck in a one-note performance. Sonalee Kulkarni as a cyber cell expert, working with Pramanik, has little to do.
While the adaptation strikes out from the original source material, it really does feel like something a basic mystery fan could predict. Abhyankar’s execution feels lacklustre despite the scale of the show. This Bestseller should have remained on the shelves.
Bestseller is now available on Amazon Prime Video.