‘Modern Love Mumbai’ Review: Amazon’s anthology series will make you fall in love with ‘City of Dreams’

New Delhi: Mumbai has ruled the hearts of the people across the country for a very long time. Artists and filmmakers have tried to capture the beauty of the city numerous times.

One such Amazon Prime’s anthology series ‘Modern love Mumbai’ has been adapted from the ‘New York Times’ Modern Love column and is produced by Pritish Nandy.

People who belong to the city would be well aware of the locations which have been shot in the film. Here’s an honest review of each of its parts, to help make you understand whether or not to binge-watch it this weekend.

1. My Beautiful Wrinkles’

Alankrita Shrivastava, Hansal Mehta, Dhruv Sehgal, Shonali Bose, Vishal Bhardwaj, and Nupur Asthana come together to bring about six different human stories connected mainly by two overbearing themes: Love and Mumbai. Each episode is 40 minutes duration.

And six protagonists are introduced in it. Story is short and can be stretched to a 90-minute-long feature film.

Alankrita Shrivastava’s story is titled ‘My Beautiful Wrinkles’ and it features Sarika and Danesh Razvi. Alankrita earlier directed Lipstick Under My Burkha, She always has an eye on women-centric topics.

The fear of aging alone is shown in this episode with mere perfection.

2. Bai

Hansal Mehta’s story called ‘Baai’ features Pratik Gandhi, Ranveer Brar, and veteran actress Tanuja, and is a tribute to focus on all kinds of love. Mehta’s story completes the episode with a soulful song Sonu Nigam’s Kaise Baaten Karto Ho, to Lakhon Ke Bol by Rutiya Lad, while the music lends itself to the narrative effortlessly.

The story is about a Muslim man and his conservative family. The story revolves around the themes like mental trauma, homophobia, and Muslim identity.

3. I love Thane 

Excellently written by Dhruv Sehgal, Saiba (Masaba Gupta) and Parth (Ritwik Bhowmik’s) stories truly will play with the string of your heart.Ritwik Bhowmick is playing Thane-based Municipal Officer, Parth.

In the modern era where people are finding their love on dating apps, despite how exhausting and lonely the process sometimes gets, this modern love story is what we all can relate to.

4. Mumbai Dragon 

From portraying the love bond of son and mother to showing racism at work, this story has all the ingredients to make you feel connected with it. Meiyang Chang, Yeo Yann Yann, Naseeruddin Shah, and Wamiqa Gabbi will be seen in pivotal parts here. Vishal Bhardwaj’s story is based on the theme that sometimes it’s better to let the love go, instead of holding and suffocating oneself.

5. Cutting Chai 

Directed by Nupur Asthana, this story features Arshad Warsi and Chitrangda Singh in the lead. Cutting Chai is all about different choices, acceptance, and possibilities that would have happened if some decisions were taken differently.

6. Raat Rani 

This part is directed by Shonali Bose and written by Nilesh Maniyar and John Belanger, and will surely hold your interest. Lalzari’s character (Fatima Sana Sheikh) is inspiring for every girl, who is left all by her own when her husband leaves her after 10 years of their marriage. Lalzari chooses self-love, and travels on a bicycle capturing the  view of the city in her eyes. Fatima nailed the character with her Kashmiri accent.

Conclusion: In all, it’s a good series. But a person has to spend 6 hours on it just to understand that love is boundless. It’s at least a one-time watch series and will surely not disappoint you.

Directors: Hansal Mehta, Dhruv Sehgal, Shonali Bose, Vishal Bhardwaj, Nupur Asthana, Alankrita Shrivastava

Cast: Danesh Razvi, Pratik Gandhi, Ranveer Brar, Tanuja, Masaba Gupta, Ritwik Bhowmik, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Meiyang Chang, Naseeruddin Shah, Yeo Yann Yann, Wamiqa Gabbi, Chitrangda Singh, Arshad Warsi, Sarika& others

Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video