Bestseller web series review: A thriller minus the intrigue that oversells and underdelivers

Writing a Bestseller is no easy job, as Arjan Bajwa who plays the one hit wonder author Tahir Wazir makes abundantly clear in the opening episode of Amazon Prime Video ’s latest Original. However, re-creating a bestseller it seems is even harder especially for the makers of this series.

Unlike its source material, Ravi Subramaniam’s riveting 2017 novel ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’, its web series adaptation titled ‘Bestseller’ is predictable from the word go. 

A decade after his bestselling novel, Tahir Wazir is struggling to find inspiration for his next for which he has already taken a big advance on from his publisher. Always up for an ego massage though, an eager to please super fan Meetu Mathur grabs his attention with her story which he decides to base his next work on.

As Meetu a small town girl from Rajsi, played rather convincingly by Shruti Hassan, feeds Tahir’s fantasies of his next bestseller with her traumatic back story, another fan on social media decides to rip his reputation to shreds after a spat and his first victim is Meetu.

As a daddy jokes loving ACP Lokesh Pramanik takes up this case of cyber crime as his last and begins to dig into everyone’s past and present, Tahir’s secrets come to hunt him in ways he couldn’t have imagined.

For a thriller, Bestseller is rather forthcoming with information. You can sniff out the big twists miles ahead of them actually unfolding to screen. While the attempt seems to be to keep things straight and remain in the tried and tested zone, it translates as been there done when watching it. Bestseller begins on quite a melodramatic note which it mercifully later eases out. Through all of the predictability and drama that goes around for eight episodes, it is the performances by Shruti Haasan , Gauahar Khan , Stayajit Dubey, Arjan Bajwa and of course Mithun Chakraborty that keeps the whole thing glued together.

While Shruti’s de-glam shy demeanor as Meetu Mathur seems a bit put on at first, the actress sells it effortlessly after as you go deeper into the series. Gauahar Khan is glides through the series with her dexterous performance playing Tahir Wazir’s wife Mayanka Kapoor who is an accomplished ad filmmaker. Her character arch though simple, is effective than most.

Arjan Bajwa is committed to his part as an egomaniac author who will go to any lengths to keep his ‘bestselling author’ aura bloated - even create a fake fan account that looks down on others. While his character begins to seem rather flat at one point, the fault lies in the narrative which is rather dependent on his ego.

The series tries to oversell Satyajeet Dubey, who plays Parth a marketing intern and software whiz kid, as the bad guy in the first few episodes which make him seem like misfit in the role. However, the second half balances it well and the actor finishes with a flourish.

Of the lot, Mithun Chakraborty as ACP Pramanik deserved better. The veteran star whose back story and genius had literally to be spelt out by another should have simply been trusted with displaying a wider range of emotions than cracking daddy jokes with suspects and conducting interrogations with a side of keema pav. Mithun plays his part seamlessly as expected but could certainly have been a much bigger asset to the story.

Bestseller, at best is a onetime watch especially if you don’t like thrillers without surprises and want to stick to the tried and tested.