Shaque: Trust No One

Illusion meets reality… those of us who have watched Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’ with rapt attention know all too well what a fascinating blend it is. Of course, Netflix’s latest web series ‘Shaque: Trust No One’, which too marries phantasmagoric elements with truth, bears no similarity with the acclaimed film. Rather, on the surface, it bears an uncanny resemblance with another of Netflix’s new films, ‘Gandhari’. Yes, like the Taapsee Pannu starrer, ‘Shaque’, which marks the web-series debut of Parineeti Chopra, too, deals with a mother’s search for her daughter.

When I was little, my mother’s very North Indian family would clink glasses, raise voices and play card games on winter nights. As the only sober primate in the room (I wasn’t sure about the wayward dog), calling the adults’ bluff was a cinch, because their intoxicated minds and muscles kept failing them: they’d place the cards face-side up by mistake, coughed harder every time they tried to lie, or even forgot the name of the suits (“3 of Souls!”) before playing their hand. If they ever played poker, I thought, we’d end up homeless. Shaque: Trust No One is the cinematic equivalent of those nights: the harder it strives to be serious (or just convincing), the funnier it gets. Some might call that entertainment; I call it the comforting embrace of mediocrity. At times, I got excited at the prospect of those farcical, downright incompetent card games.

एक मां के लिए इससे बड़ा सदमा क्या होगा कि उसकी नवजात बच्ची उससे दूर हो जाए? वो मां ना अपनी पहली संतान को भूल सकती है, ना ही उसे वापस पाने की उम्मीद चैन से जीने देती है। एक मां की ऐसी ही भावुक कहानी वाली वेब सीरीज ‘शक: ट्रस्ट नो वन’ से परिणीति चोपड़ा ने ओटीटी पर वेब सीरीज की दुनिया में अपनी पारी शुरू की है। हालांकि, मेकर्स ने मां-बेटी की इस भावनात्मक कहानी के इर्द-गिर्द शक और साजिशों के ढेर सारे जाले बुनकर इसका मजा थोड़ा किरकिरा कर दिया है।

Netflix has made a killing out of Harlan Coben. At last count, the American writer had as many as 13 titles running on the streaming platform, with each generating massive watch hours. Case in point: The adaptation of Coben’s I Will Find You, released this year, accumulated 619 million hours watched (equating to over 112.9 million views) during its historic run on Netflix. Coben’s writing is formulaic and functional, with many describing it as “airport fiction”, the kind that employs relentless plot twists at the cost of literary depth. But in a world ruled by decreasing attention span, low patience for world-building and the preference for page-turning, high-velocity reading, Coben thrives.

We often hear how difficult it is to get a show or a film approved by Netflix. There are so many projects being developed, evaluated and discussed, and only a few eventually make the cut. Which is why a show like Shaque – Trust No One makes you wonder: what exactly does it take to get a project through, and how did this one make the cut? Poorly written and badly directed by Rensil D’Silva, Shaque doesn’t just test your patience as a viewer — it leaves me with even more shaque about how this one got approved in the first place. The story begins with a nightmare no parent should have to experience. Parineeti Chopra plays a new mother whose baby is kidnapped from a hospital. The first episode actually creates some intrigue. There are enough breadcrumbs to make you suspicious of almost everyone, and for a while, you genuinely want to know who is behind the kidnapping and why. Unfortunately, that’s where much of the interest ends.