Tandav

Ignore the propaganda ratings. Must watch show. Story is somewhat missing its path but you I think they have left it for an another season. Saif Ali Khan is outstanding. There is nothing like Hinduphobia in the show. Several stoeries of various characters merge at the end. Overall, must watch at least for Saif.

When I heard mamoths like Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Tigmanshu Dhulia are going to star in a political thriller I couldn't hold my horses. I binged through the entire first season in a night. After first episode it was clear to me the Hindu brigade won't let this one get good ratings. Because we watch our content like we do our voting, with religion and complete lack of ability to let other side speak.

Anyway, despite good acting, some great sequences and some great twists ... This one fails to stick its landing because writer Gaurav Solanki tries to shove in things what we just don't care about. The whole side plot of Dean, why? Sana's sister plot, why? Just to add another systemic racism to the plot?

Stories like these are enjoyable only when characters are complicated and we have something to root for. We rooted for Tyrion but many rooted for Cersei too because we understood her motivation. Saif's actions have no strong justification.

On top of that the background score is just so pathetic. I swear I am half mad at this show because of that. Addition of my favorite and AR Rahman's Dhakka laga bukka is so lazy and idiotic and in many instances the music tries to make you feel what the scene shout be doing.

The ending itself isn't satisfying. They could've taken out some drama and unnecessary plots from episode 4,5 and 6 which by the way is just repeatition of things.

I will still watch season 2 because there were some enjoyable parts and atleast I am intrigued to see the real tandav which hopefully begins next season.

Special mentions to Sunil Grover who is terrifying, Dimple Kapadia is such a talent, Zeeshan Ayub is as good as Saif, Gauhar Khan shines in some parts.

The series takes all the news in concurrent Indian politics and mixes it with House of card style characters. The plot is captivating, the characters look strong. Only issue with the series is that it doesn't capture the depth of sentiments, but instead focuses on saying it all without showing links and motivation behind actions of its characters. Overall, Tandav stays mediocre despite it's fabulous cast. But, it is still much better than other brainless attempts of remaking Hollywood movies without translating them to Indian societal setup.

Watched half of it....keeping patience....but didnt found any reason to continue! May be expected lil more.....😔

What worked: As a art lover, keeping the hot melting pot aside, the series deserve some attention. The cast is strong, though they could have been casted right. I must say, considering the makers history especially the director, we should have expected the series to be an entertainment packages rather than a well written and executed piece of art with layers and textures binding series of events altogether artistically. It's a one time entertainer; a pump and dump movie with over the top screen time and series of events. I personally did not find many loud anti Hindu sentimental scenes as I had expected. There were some that didn't feel right but not a lot. If you are a fan of typical Bollywood political thriller, you would not regret watching the show. But the exposure of lots of the world cinema makes it harder to appreciate this work mainly for its narrative and also for the sentiments it touched. What did not work: So much has already been discussed about the series and so many have raised the voice against the series, which makes sense considering the series's strong deviance towards secularism, caste system, religious sentiments, youth voices and political voices. The agenda of the series touched some religious sentiments that stirred agony and fury amongst the viewers, and that marred the words of mouth of the series. That has been a let down and a loss for the makers of the series. Maybe Tandav was not the best title, maybe religious voices should not have been questioned. Maybe working class people should not have been demonstrated as puppet and helpless. Maybe there are many issues with the series in regard with the opinion and the tolerance. If we are to overlook the sentiments and watch the series as a work of fiction and not as a propaganda, we can maybe able to see what did not work for the series. As many mentioned, the depth in the character development is not prioritized maybe because of the short screen time. The only character I noticed having some depth and with some introspective sequence is of Sunil Grover and maybe some of Zeeshan. The writing is over the top masala drama/thriller with more importance given to series of events rather than the characters. The background score is repetitive at times, dull partially and continuous throughout the series which did not enhance the experience. I would say the episodes could have been made longer if they wanted us to grow with the characters. Final verdict: maybe you should see what the word of mouth has been a chain of command for the topic of choices we prefer