The new MX Player web series Samantar is just what we need as we self-quarantine while waiting for the coronavirus contagion to abate and ...
The new MX Player web series Samantar is just what we need as we self-quarantine while waiting for the coronavirus contagion to abate and the cinemas to re-open. Made in Marathi and dubbed in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil, Samantar (Parallel) is the overwrought but watchable saga of a man who grapples with a self-fulfilling prophecy. It begins in a slum in Mumbai and continues onwards and then downwards into a rabbit hole that threatens to swallow its main subject. The first season lasts nine episodes, and ends on a cliffhanger that holds out the promise of further twists and more gainful employment for the cast and crew.
The series marks the streaming debut of Marathi star Swwapnil Joshi and hit-maker director Satish Rajwade (2013). One of their biggest money-spinning collaborations was the college drama Duniyadari (2013), based on popular writer Suhas Shirwalkar’s novel. Another of Shirwalkar’s tales is the basis of Samantar, in which a man realises that he is living a life that has already been led by another man.
Kumar (Joshi) is down on his luck, and can barely make ends meet (don’t let his perfectly coiffured hair fool you). Kumar’s friend and colleague Sharad (Ganesh Revadekar) drags him to an astrologer (Jayant Savarkar), who refuses...
