Ray (2021)

 Starring- Kay Kay Menon, Manoj Bajpayee, Ali Fazal, Harshvardhan Kapoor, Radhika Madan, and Gajraj Rao. 

Created By- Srijit Mukherji, Abhishek Chaubey, and Vasan Bala.

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 Ray is a short series with four different stories based on the works of the legendary Satyajeet Ray. I am rating the stories here based on my opinion, however, each story itself is brilliant and reflects the depth of insight Satyajit had of human behavior and proved that he was ahead of his time.

1. Bahrupiya-

Holy Man- "Aap pehle aur aakhiri insaan nahi hai, jo khud ko Khuda ya Bhagwan samjhne ki galti kar baithe hai aur muh ke bal girenge".

The story revolves around a makeup artist, who wants to change his fate with the help of his atrocious skills. The more you watch Kay Kay, the more you fall in love with that guy. If you have ever read short stories, you'll realize how accurate and surprising this episode was.  It was amazing and lived up to its potential.

My Rating- 8.5/10.

"Hum Bhi to Bhagwan Jaise hi hai, Janam to hum bhi dete hai".

2. Hungama Kyun hai Barpa?- 

Rooh Safa- "Gairat! Gairat Miya! Kabhi na Kabhi to Insaan ko kat'ti hi hogi".

Manoj Bajpayee and Gajraj Rao starred in this episode, which revealed a story of a Kleptomaniac.  The phenomenal acting skills, the sublime storyline, and the brilliant camera work. The portrayal of the melodrama of the famous starved artist, through imaginary performances/audience, was brilliance in screenplay and sub-text.

My Rating- 8/10

3. Spotlight-

 I really didn't thought that Hashvardan Kapoor was gonna give such impressive work but he proved everyone wrong. And then there was Radhika Madan. Even though she didn't have that much of the screen time, but whtaever she had she made the best out of it. And of course the story and the twists were all splendid. The episode had several references to Ray’s previous works and religious dogmatism, but the narrative wasn’t convincing enough. Although there are good moments, but those are far fetched. 

My Rating- 7/10

4. Forget me Not- Ali Faizal is sublime and it's nice to see him break away from the gangster or lost youth he has become famous for portraying. Some other performances were a little less engaging but I guess the highlight was Ali's character. It was the ending, that was not up to the mark. It was a more low-key typical Bollywood ending. But overall, good storyline.

My Rating- 6.5/10.