Get Drunk with "Four
More Shots Please!" Season 1
Sexy, crude, rude and
utterly at odds with the endemic poverty that infects so much of India's
mainland - "Four More Shots Please!" is pure fantasy - an Indian
"Sex & The City" meets "Girls" that’s very funny, hip
and bristling with life - and I for one am down with that.
It's beautifully filmed in
4K making the absolute most of downtown Mumbai locations, the sleek interiors
of glass skyscrapers and bonfire-lit Goa beaches. It also gets that right mix
between personal fun, exploratory snappy dialogue and social commentary -
taking none-too-subtle blasts at many Hindi stereotypes and lifestyle
restrictions as the four ladies giggle, booze and navigate their way through a
world still very much locked into the old ways.
The four leads are gorgeous
(of course) – Sayani Gupta plays Damini, the young and conscientious journalist
fighting to keep her investigative start up company relevant in a media market
obsessed with gossipy celeb news and salacious titbits – while Anjana is a
divorced single mum lawyer and oldest of the group (played lustily by Kirti
Kulhari) – her character's life revolving around her adorable but precocious
four-year old daughter Ayra. Then there's the well-endowed but physically naïve
Siddhi who is played sweetly by Maanvi Gagroo - the youngest of the group who
eventually resorts to some exposure of her own to counter her mum's constant
put-downs. And finally - there is the wild and funky personal trainer Umang,
played by a sensational Gurbani Judge – a lean mean long-haired panther machine
who's all midriff tattoos, toned biceps and bulging eyes for the ladies –
especially a Bollywood star whom she falls for like a cement mixer that's
bursting – even if that star isn’t willing to trade love for fame by doing the
brave thing and coming out.
The disparate bubbly group
convenes several times a week in their fave bar "Truck" (where they
met one terrible fateful night) and natter openly about men, work, family, sex,
pleasure (or the lack of it) and pretty much anything else that jumps to mind.
There's bisexuality, gayness, the difficulty of navigating a career in a
predominately men's world, single parenthood, weight obsessions, pushy parents,
workplace affairs, old flames, snogging on beaches and not remembering who you
were with the night before or why. There is lots of discussion on lady bits and
of course the big one - how do you find love in the modern world of smartphones
vs. actually talking to someone. "Four More Shots Please!" is well
written and the large cast eats it up and most of the men are hunky and
likeable too (this program will undoubtedly make the ladies and their male
counterparts bigger stars than they probably already are).
It should be noted that as
the characters speak, the expletive-loaded rapid-fire dialogue in every episode
often lapses from English into Hindi without any warning or onscreen
explanation. Baring this in mind - I suggest that 'before' you watch any of the
ten instalments, go the Menu bar above the Amazon program's photo square, move
across and set the Subtitles button to 'English On'. It may be a pain having
the words on the bottom of the screen but at least you'll be able to keep apace
and get a gist of what's being said.
"Four More Shots
Please!" is very funny in places too. But what I liked most (and what kept
me watching) is the life force that is coursing through its admittedly
over-pretty veins. This is India standing up to the West and saying yes we're
beautiful too - yes we're sexy too - this is a young Bollywood wanting to be
counted. For sure the girls all have too much money, apartments to die for,
Carey Bradshaw costume changes every five seconds without the wherewithal to
pay for any of it - but that doesn't stop "Four More Shots Please!" being
great fun and shockingly open and deep at times about a culture that all too
often wants to sweep anything that's not the religious norm under a very heavy
carpet.
Raising yet another
shot-toast at their favourite watering hole, the feisty character Umang shouts
over the girly din, "Kick it in the balls!"
And indeed they have. Dig in
and enjoy and well done to all involved...
