Here are some populations likely to enjoy Shantram, Apple TV’s new series: People who once unironically said, “You don’t understand India”; People with a profile picture taken in Midburn; “Children of Anarchy” fans who remain faithful to Charlie Hunnam (well, the one who looks like Channing Tatum but British); People whose favorite category on any streaming service is “based on a true story”; And of course, the “Paper House” viewers who are desperate for a new suspense series with “exotic” landscapes.
This new crime drama was created by Eric Warren Singer (“American Dream”, “Top Gun: Maverick”) and Steve Lightfoot (screenwriter on “Hannibal” and “The Punisher”) based on a successful book of the same name. The author, the Australian Gregory David Roberts, based the book on real events from his life – at least apparently, because the boundaries between truth, fiction and half-truths are not entirely clear. This is the story of Dale (Hannem), a heroin addict who goes to prison after a bank robbery gone wrong. After he gets clean, escapes from prison and somehow escapes from Australia to India, then reinvents himself as Lynn – a lovable New Zealander who just wants to be a better person. He immediately connects with Prabhu (Shubham Sarf), a young and enthusiastic tour guide who sees him as a friend but also a business opportunity. Just as quickly he also mixes with all the foreign criminals in town. You know, like any escaped prisoner who wants to rehabilitate and clean up his karma.
Somehow, in something like five seconds in India Lin is caught in the middle between local crime syndicates, drug dealers, a prestigious and dangerous brothel, and a French femme fatale named Carla (Antonia Despalais) who seems to have a hand in everything. Everyone tries to move him here or there, but more importantly – everyone wants to talk to him about philosophy. You see, Lin studied philosophy before his life went haywire, and somehow he magnetizes to him conversations about the essence of life, good and evil, the nature of human society and other topics of conversation pulled from a self-help book. He also has the same conversations with himself in a spoon-fed narration, in case we didn’t understand on our own that he feels bad about all kinds of bad things that happen because of him.
Shantram is not exactly the hottest chutney in Bombay. It is not very tight, spreads in too many directions, and above all is not really tense, which is a serious problem considering the genre. It’s not really a story about a prisoner who escapes from the law and manipulates his way to redemption, it’s more a collection of not very original crime stories, most of them could have happened anywhere but somehow they happen specifically in Mumbai (painted with a yellowish filter, of course). Among the multitude of plots that the series throws at its viewers in the first three episodes, the only one that is truly unique to the location is the one that takes place in a tough shantytown that is plagued by fires and diseases. It is also the only plot that manages to excite, because there is a little more than passive aggressive happening between philosophizing criminals in the shekel.
In the same regard, Prabhu is the official show stealer of the series and the only character that we would really care if he disappeared without us again – he is funny but also melancholy, he challenges the main character, he really contributes something to the plot other than more complications and he does not amount to a character trait and a half. It is intriguing to think whether the series would have worked better if the main character was a little less furry. Hanam is not a bad actor, but he fails to add depth to the flat character written for him. He doesn’t come across as an anti-hero conflicted with himself, as you would guess from the synopsis, but as a victim of circumstances that everyone just bullies him and prevents him from living his life. The flashbacks to his previous life do not help deepen him because even in them he mainly suffers, hurts, follows others and pays for their mistakes.
Maybe this whole mess still has a chance to improve by the end of the season, which will include 12 episodes. But even if it is, I’m really not sure that it justifies the rather boring three-hour long exposition that these first episodes provided us with. It takes a special talent to throw so much drama and happenings at the viewers and still feel like the story hasn’t really started.
“Shantram”, the first three episodes are available on Apple TV, a new episode every Friday