Showtime Review: Emraan Hashmi, Mouni Roy Starrer Is All Glitter, No Substance

Emraan Hashmi seems to be embracing a career renaissance of sorts, romancing villainous roles with as much zeal as he did his lover boy era. However, his latest attempt with Showtime, is a great disservice to his tryst with the dark side.

Hot take

Showtime is a disappointment after Emraan Hashmi's digital debut, Bard Of Blood which released back in 2019. The thriller series, despite its shortcomings, still made for a convincing tale reflecting effort.

Showtime unfortunately, has an abundance of the former, lacking any trace of the latter.

Does Showtime live up to the hype?

Though Showtime promised to be a telling insight into the inner workings and ever-present power tussles of the film industry, the overall impact of the show so far can best be summarised as hollow.

Stereotypes galore

Showtime is a satire. The Sumit Roy helmed drama satirises the basic premise of the film industry's dark underbelly fronted by blinding lights - much like the 2023 Vikramaditya Motwane period series Jubilee, which more or less traversed the same path. The basic difference between the two however, is that the latter had well written characters supplemented by honest performances which served as the pillars of its premise. The former on the other hand, is just hyper-focused on melodrama which simply becomes all too much with the mish mash of stereotypes being reinforced.

Melodrama can be a good thing, elevating the viewing experience from the realm of realism to cinematic grandeur. This does not hold true when makers keep resorting to it as the only means of creating any impact. There is nothing wrong with Emraan Hashmi's Raghu Khanna being unabashedly confident, or Mouni Roy's Yasmine Ali using her beauty as currency, or even Rajeev Khandelwal's Armaan assuming his mega-stardom makes him God-like. What is however wrong in all of this, is the gala of painfully void characters being made to mouth empty dialogues. 

Name dropping and underutilised potential are Showtime's biggest drawbacks

A thing the series does stand out for right from the start is the steady flow of all too familiar faces waltzing in and out of frame. None of these cameos, despite their stardom, have any meat. Naseeruddin Shah's Viktor Khanna is disappointing in this regard. Though his demise in the very first episode is crucial to the plot, having him around for longer could have added weight to the narrative.

Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Prem Chopra, Badshah and even celebrity photographer Dabboo Ratnani make brief appearances, but it adds nothing to the story. Rajeev Khandelwal's Armaan could have been significantly fleshed out as a parallel lead. The actor sadly, makes best of the limited context of his role. In the same breath, Mouni Roy as Yasmine, despite being the foremost female name in the series, is as good as a guest star.

Stream it or skip it?

Though the aforementioned points may persuade one otherwise, Showtime is not all that bad. If you are looking for a mindless television binge-watch session, Showtime may fit the bill, provided you hit the play button with zero expectations.

Bottomline

Emraan Hashmi is misdirected while Mouni Roy is a prop. You may spot a beloved star for a split second in the dime a dozen cameos but they too will fail to digress your attention from the poor script.

Rating: 1.5/5