One minute into episode 1 of the bold and brash Four More Shots Please that is right now streaming on Amazon Prime, and I was hooked. The reason: an extremely sexy Milind Soman features in one of the protagonist's dream. Seriously, it has been ages since I have seen a role do justice to his innate sexiness. He appears in pristine white briefs, looking absolutely delicious, rocking a salt and pepper look. Oh...keep still my heart. I am instantly hooked.
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| Hot Milind Soman in Four More Shots Please |
But just like how he disappears after the very promising scene where he ravishes Damini right on top of her office conference room table, the series nose dives as it wants to do so many things in 10 episodes, very much like the four hip heroines. What a pity that the makers of the show didn't think of milking workaholic Damini and sexy stranger/boss/ board of director angle (which was done pretty well in Rani Mukherjee's Aiyyaa) during the course of the series. He is none of the above; instead he is her gynec. Can you imagine that? Oh please, how boring can you guys get? I mean unless he finds her vagina
different from the many he examines, there doesn't seem to be much promise here. He is forgotten after the first few episodes, only to make a feeble come back in the penultimate episode of Season 1 to make matters predictably complicated for our protagonist.
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| The Quartet in Four More Shots Please |
Damini Rizvi played by Sayani Gupta (remember
Khanum, the blind girl, from Margarita with a Straw) speaks English that sounds alien to my ears and uses words that I would have difficulty composing leave alone speak confidently. On top of that, she has this
foren-return accent which makes me wonder if she is indeed an Indian. It is not phony surely, but it does need a bit of getting used to.
Damini is trying hard to stay relevant to her values in a company that she started, but her lady boss Uma is giving her a tough time over their site getting lesser eyeballs. Between navigating vodka shots smoothly from table top to mouth in the middle of a working day and painting the town red in super stylish clothes (everyone in the series looks like they have just then stepped out of a Vogue shoot) she manages to not compromise on her goals. But you knew that already didn't you? Still, her career problems are the most relatable aspect of the series and it got me invested a bit more by the end of Season 1.
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| Immaculately dressed in their favourite hangout - The Truck Bar |
If this series is a celebration of the modern woman with all her complexities, then you will need to look no further...for complexities I mean; there is plenty of that stuff happening here, though not all relevant and nice. But to call this series as one about feminism doesn't really cut it, because surely the people behind the show are only happy to do lip service to that word. There are these super modern women showing you that to be independent and empowered means to not be afraid of
following her dream mouthing foul words (there is a 'fuck' in every
phrase), of talking loudly and openly about sex, vagina, wet dreams and everything else that would belong to the bedroom, of lusting after a man or a woman but not really loving (for loving someone and being responsible for them really is so uncool), of being unapologetically rude and of having men around to replace a dildo (scratch the last one, they use their fingers mainly).
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| Anjana - working the camera |
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| Kisses and making out - a constant feature in Four More Shots Please |
The series has a lot of kissing and making out which would have made a good change from the sanitized versions we see on TV, if only they looked like it meant something to them. There is not an iota of chemistry between lead couples. Zilch. There is no investment in the emotional arc of the characters as in the case of Anjana Menon who is a lawyer and a single mom. She decides to leave her husband Varun (Neil Boopalan) after the birth of her child as she believes she has been doing all the heavy lifting while he was being such a man-child. She is supposedly a hot-shot lawyer, though there isn't a single scene to validate that; she comes across also as a super hot mother who has not seen much action in the bed since she got divorced. And that is not her only problem. She has difficulty managing her child, Arya's visits with Varun, has problems with his new girlfriend Kavya (played rather peppy-ly by Kirti Kulhari who is nice and sweet and so in the FMSP world is a bitch), her vagina which she calls 'vee vee' is demanding some action, and lastly there's sexual tension building with a
chikna young intern in her firm. The last part is something that needs to be seen to be believed - we could try making dosas on the heat generated by the two and it would remain a batter. Arrgh...I know that simile was pathetic but that's how cold their sexual tension is. Two platonic friends would have had more chemistry than that.
I could go on about the other two too (Umang the bi-sexual who falls in love with the wrong girl and Siddhi, a chubby virgin who deals with a demanding mother Sneha) but what I really want to do is vent about how these programs are influencing young minds. In many ways it is nice to see women, like the protagonists, who are out and about living life as per their rules and talking about taboo topics in open or at least discussing such things with friends, but mostly what seems to happen is a blurring of values and priorities. It is getting to a point where the real issue of freedom and empowerment for women seems related to wearing modern clothes, mouthing profanities and being insanely obsessed with men as is shown in 95% of the series. We need better thought out programs laced with sensitivity that makes think about who we are and why it is essential to have our own identity.
If I needed to watch a Western perspective of a life these guys were living, I could watch the entire
Friends series with a glass of vodka in hand...but since I don't drink vodka, I'll settle for that creamy cappuccino any day.
Comments
4 more shots is a very entertaining package and the story revolves around the 4 women (few overlaps with sex and the city), who are finding different expressions in their fun-challenging lives - Whatever happens, at the end of the day they are at their adda for the shots. Several nice romantic chapters out of a novel with a happy ending always.
Nice clothes, good sets, peppy characters and music - you will eventually find bits of you in some character(s) / event(s) - that will make you see till the end :)
p.s. - somehow i never this saw as a feminism movement, but as a good step forward to being more open and expressive, as the next gen takes over
I think, the biggest problem for me with this series is how lazy the film making is. There are so many things that are glaring on your face...the lack of good acting chops and the put on accent...the over zealous need to party or give a damn. I could go on.
I don't know, but j think the series would have been better off had there been more effort put into sketching the story line and adding more realistic arcs to the characters.
On the high side...you do write a good piece of opinion. Perhaps you should write a blog 😉
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thanks for inspiring, here goes my 4 shots review
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The 3rd season of four more shots is on its way and we are yet to conclude our views on how good or bad the 20 episodes were..
To see a novel, listening to good music and feeling few emotions from your high school dreams ..., you might want to give this a shot.
4 interesting and enterprising women are on a journey of self-discovery finding their expressions in being brave - laced with humour and a touch of subtlety, that makes this series such a delight, that you will be drawn into it (and even consider a second watch when you are through the entire seasons)..
Peppy, colourful, tangy, steamy and suave(!), the characters are very cleverly placed. From the “un”- emotionally intelligent writer, a roly-poly gujju girl, a searching single mom and a rustic lesbian - the 4 shots at the bar is a gossip gang, worth the sharing fun.
All ages covered - includes a hot gynaec (guess who) and the muscular bar-man...there is enough for every woman to have few shots at home.