'Gangistan' review: Warning, a head-spinning audio series ahead!
What's the story
Spotify India dropped 10 episodes out of 48 of its Hindi thriller on its platform recently. Titled, Gangistan, the podcast features the voices of Scam 1992 star Pratik Gandhi, Mirzya fame Saiyami Kher, alongside character artist Daya Shankar Pandey. Too many characters make this podcast uninteresting. You might not be able to make out the crux of the story. Here's our review.
Plot
The story based on gang war makes no sense
Makers have marketed the project as a story based on reporter Aashu Patel's account and findings of the underworld in Mumbai city. Produced by OfSpin Media Friends, Gangistan explores all possible angles of gang wars and gangster-girlfriend and mother-gangster relationships. The story is narrated by Pappu (The Gangster, played by Pandey), crime journalist Patel (Gandhi plays this part), and Shivani Sawant (encounter specialist: Kher).
The voices
Gandhi does good but Pandey is the real 'sutradhar'
Gandhi, who plays the part of the journalist, sounds convincing. The actor, also known as OTT king, changes his language from Gujarati to Hindi and English swiftly. Kher manages to pull off the Marathi accent in her Hindi dialogues as well. However, we would call Pandey the sutradhar (holder of strings), who manages to take the entire podcast on his shoulders successfully.
The pluses
The podcast mostly sounds realistic in its approach
Music composer Anant Krishnan has worked on every scene in detail in terms of background score and sound design. The bomb blasts, screams, and the violin in the background might give you chills. The podcast also leaves you with inquisitiveness at the end of every episode. While listening to the narration, you may feel like sitting with the characters in the same room.
Minuses
Too many characters in the story is a turnoff
While touching episode 10 of the Siddhanta Pinto directorial, you might lose interest in the story (if at all you get there). There was a point where a drunk Pappu talks to Patel, but it felt like Pandey was chewing paan instead since some of his pronunciations were too unclear. And, I guess Kher was just reading from the script sans any emotion.
Twitter Post
You can check out a glimpse of 'Gangistan' here
Bambai nagariya ke gangs ki kahaaniyan 🚨☠️
— Spotify India (@spotifyindia) November 15, 2021
Suniye Gangistan, A Spotify Original Podcast 🎙️ featuring the voices of @pratikg80, @SaiyamiKher and Dayashankar Pandey ➡️https://t.co/fyukAWOuEk#GangistanOnSpotify #UnderworldKiUnsuniKahaani #HindiAudioThriller @ofspinmedia pic.twitter.com/HbAZmQbZcO
Verdict
It's not premium content and you will know why
Though the makers tried to deliver an intriguing plot with suspense and thrilling moments, it failed. They played it safe by making it in an audio format. And thank god, it's not premium content (now, you know why). In a nutshell, this podcast is not worth it, even while sitting on the pot. Verdict: The offering gets a poor 2 out of 5 stars.