Four more shots please – review

Amazon prime has this unique knack of picking one dud movie after another for direct release. But when it comes to drama series, they’ve curated some decent ones to their credit. “Four more shots please” is touted as one of the most watched shows online for last year and this year as well. It was claimed to be the desi version of “SATC”, which makes one wonder if it was a credit or tease. The series is about 4 women – a journalist turned author, a lawyer, a rich girl from a super-rich family and a gym instructor from small town Ludhiana. They all meet in a bar called “Truck bar” and befriend the bartender/owner. They discuss their daily lives, sorrow, happiness, frustration and everything under the sun and true to the name of the series, always accompanied by liquor. The series have run for two seasons so far and has some unique thing about the way it has been setup. Claimed to be the first whole women unit ever to have produced this series where in right from the technicians to the director/producer, all of whom are females. It also has a very bold or probably a common theme, considering it has been the mainstay theme across many a series, to have lesbianism as one of its central running story arcs with adultery being the other one. The other significant plus about the series is that it has a run time of just about half hour which makes it more likeable and tolerable. 

Casting is another obvious plus and the chemistry between the 4 ladies is crackling to say the least. They ease into their roles very comfortably, be it on the innumerous physical scenes or on their flimsy negligible costumes. Camera work is absolute pro and gives it a world class feel and be it the bar set or any of the apartments of the leads, they look super posh and rich. The richness with which one their living style is associated brings out the contradictions about their life style. How does a gym instructor manage such a hi-fi bar and how come she manages to pick up urban lingo and high end lifestyle in such a relatively short span. They never show where she actually lives anywhere and she is always seen wearing trendy attire. That apart, there is nothing unique about the story line except for the fact that it shows 4 boisterous ladies, who cuss like anything, sleep around at the drop of a hat, drink like there is no tomorrow and has no qualms about doing any of these. I am not sure if it is typical upper class life style, SoBo (South Bombay), as depicted or if one should see it as a literary liberty, aping similar stories and themes from English series. But even for a fact, it makes one wonder does people sleep around so easily?!! This was a mirage created on English drama series and movies where in the moment a good looking guy or a girl sees one another, invariably they will sleep with each other, have a fallout, sleep with more people and only to get united in the story finale. Looking at the success of such series I often used to wonder why no Indian makers are after these themes. Well, this series is the answer to that. Replace the 4 ladies with anyone from a Netflix original or US series, the story will still remain the same. May be that is why the relatability is bit difficult from a local setup perspective. For those who claim culture shock seeing girls drinking with gay abandon or on the lesbian story arc, replace it with guys, it would and should exactly evoke the same response. If not, then they are double refined hypocrites and nothing else. I don’t appreciate people propagating drinking and smoking on any medium and especially those that have reach of all members of the family. And as a central point, each of the characters are commonly confused between being a strong independent individual as against being part of a regular family setup. As a message it is very confusing for those who follow the series, if at all there is any they try to convey. Overall it is a time pass series that has some fun elements of its own.