In all its glory, present-day society has been trying to be open-minded and accepting of all types of identities and concepts. Thanks to the people involved in the entertainment industry, knowledge on all these various notions are being distributed amongst the mass. ‘Four More Shots Please’ is one such Indian show that focuses on portraying the wide concept of feminism. Even though I finished season one of the show a long time back and vowed to never invest my time in such shows, I still couldn’t stop myself from going through the torture of season two during this quarantine period. So, here are some thoughts that ran through my mind while I watched the beautifully bland show.
1. Privileged
This show screams privilege. It features four South Bombay girls dripping with money, just like every other character of the show. These girls never stop from showing their riches to the world, whether it’s meeting in the same bar and ordering alcohol for the entire pub or going on an impromptu expensive trip to Istanbul; they are living the “Indian rich kid life.” I am honestly surprised that sufficient memes haven’t surfaced on the internet regarding the same.
2. Feminism
The directors and actors have displayed their broken idea of feminism through the show. I mean, don’t get me wrong it’s beautiful to see women supporting women but I don’t see why screaming vagina while sitting on the Marine Drive is the new feminist anthem. The show talks about stigmatized topics in a woman’s life, like periods, female masturbation, discovering sexuality, workplace harassment, divorce, and almost every other issue. However, the show still portrays all these problems under a black or white light. The show doesn’t seem to happen to have a balance when it comes to the lives and choices of different characters. For example, in Anjana’s perspective either you have to believe in monogamy or you have to sneakily have an affair with a married man, there’s no in-between. In Siddhi’s point of view, you can live your life in two ways; keep listening to what the society tells you or break those barriers so hard that you end up on the internet as a “sexy bold girl.”
3. LGBTQIA+
Many speculations surround the “ideal” representation of LGBTQIA+. The show has done a marvelous job of embracing the people of this community; however, their representation style remains a grey area. It is important to note that one shouldn’t add to the preconceived and misguided notions of stereotypes engulfing the community but, the show has done exactly that. Mohit, a boy that Siddhi’s mother forces her to meet is shown as a stereotypical gay guy who has excellent fashion advice to offer. And showing a straight guy who isn’t interested in playing video games? What’s that? It doesn’t exist in the minds of the creators who show Mohit being rejected by a straight man who is, of course, interested in playing games and decides the best time to state his engrossments in the same is when he is being hit on by a gay man.
4. Dialogues
Honestly, if you like corny dialogues and they are your forte, please go ahead and watch the show. Bollywood is famous for its despicable and schmaltzy dialogues and ‘Four More Shots Please’ lives up to this standard. Maybe even breaks those standards. Dialogues like “Hum iss sink mein bhi sync mein hai” and “Aap hille hoye hote hai isliye hilate hai ya hilate hai isliye hille hote hai” are some proofs to my statement. In Anubhav Singh Bassi’s words, writers while discussing the dialogues of the show –
5. Actors
I laughed every time Lisa Ray had a breakdown. Every. Single. Time. Her acting is so bad, KRK is jealous. I know hating on children is sinful but please can we ask Anjana’s daughter to quit? Please? Overacting and a group hug are involved in each episode of the show, but so is unironic usage of words like monogamy, polygamy, BFFs and so on. When it comes to body positivity and men, each protagonist of the show suddenly transforms into Pooh from Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gum (only none of the men are as dashing as Hritik Roshan).
‘Four more shots please’ lacks the knowledge needed to fight patriarchal conditioning of the society and it lacks imagination in all its sense. The show’s characters have cliched personalities and the plot can be easily guessed by anyone. It’s only the costume designing team that has done a tremendous job!
Image Source – The Hauter Fly
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