Eine gute Partie

Was looking forward to this drama, well no more. Again a type of hype job that has not lived up to expectations. The acting is poor overall, probably due to lack of experience but so wooden that birds could have nested on them. It have an old feeling about, been there, done that like 30 years ago, no creativity or lacking in creativity, wooden like I said. Disappointing.

IMDB: no wonder imdb scores are lacking credibility lately, how can one guy "jamesdashner-11223" leave two 10/10 reviews for the same episode when all of the time saying nothing. Come on IMDB.

Sad to say that this was so, so disappointing - everything that was great in the novel is missing. Hard to know who or what to blame the most - the choice of screenwriter, the poor direction, the wooden dialogue, the random changes between English and HIndi/Urdu, the miscasting of Mrs Mehra and especially Lata - Tanya Maniktala was definitely not a 'suitable girl' for the part! The only saving graces were the presence of Tabu and the music of Shujaat Khan. I don't think that anyone will be inspired to read Vikram Seth's novel after watching this BBC dramatisation, so would advise not wasting your time watching this but instead invest your time reading the novel.

Having read the novel a few months ago, I was quite excited about this series.I watched the first episode as soon as it was released.

However, from the very first episode I felt everything was quite rushed. How could they possibly do justice to a 1300+ pages long novel in 6 episodes? While the show starred some talented actors such as Tabu and Ishaan Khatter, the actors just couldn't turn the show around. It lacked a lot of character development and a large chunk of the history which was mentioned in the book was simply removed. At the end of the day, I felt this was simply a matchmaking drama. It could have been so much more!

People giving it a lower rating might be the ones who are used to gripping tales these days from the very first episode as gone are the days of good slow burn soap operas. To really appreciate this, one needs to be familiar with Vikram Seth's writing, which itself takes time to dwell in you with its fine details to all the characters and the period they are set in and secondly, not many people are familiar with Mira Nair's work. She has a beautiful eye for details in her direction and the way she narrates her story is always with a kind of tenderness and her characters take their own time to amalgamate. I understand, at first, it's a bit unusual to see many familiar faces having lengthy conversations in english, especially the actors whom we have only seen in 'Hindi' speaking cinema/series till now. But I do believe the ensemble is doing justice to their roles and with time we will become more attached to them. I for one will be rooting for the show.

I am incredulous at some of the reviews thus far. Just a reminder to some: this is not a 2020, Americo-European, slick, CGI-laden action film. It is sublimely Indian story, set in 1947, in an ancient almost timeless nation, populated by people who are from a totally different culture. To my mind, having watched three episodes, this series captures all of these. The slowness of the pace, even the slowness of the camera work, reinforces all this. The acting? I found it to be so refreshing, and those reviewers who talk about amateur acting obviously haven't met the originals of the people portrayed in this series (I have: I was born in the 40's and my mother was born in Bangalore three decades earlier: in my life I have know and dealt with just about all of the wonderful 'types' portrayed here). I revelled in the characters with all their quirkiness and idiosyncrasies, and I found them an antidote to the often-crass over-acting that is churned out today. By the way, to those who think that some of the delivery is wooden, here's an insight: people in the 40s did speak much more precisely and grammatically than most do today, and to my somewhat agèd ears the voices in this series are totally authentic for the period. The camera work is divine, as is the music, and combined together they take you out of your drab day-to-day life to a very different world. Not always a nice world, and I am sure that there are some who will be offended by the portrayal of bigotry and intolerance the are woven into the story, but they are undeniable historical truths which are central to the plot. Overall, to those of you locked down in these troubled times, draw the curtains, sit back and lose yourself in this luxurious and beautifully-rendered drama.