A cheating husband, a lying best friend, a manipulative mother-in-law, a kidnapped child… I wondered what were the odds of one woman being cursed with every possible problem at the same time. Then came Shaque: Trust No One, Parineeti Chopra ’s latest web show, to remind me that when a writer needs a plot, probability can simply be shown the door. Here, convenience isn’t just a storytelling device. It is practically a character.
In case you forget what the story is about, some character invariably turns up every 10 minutes to announce it. Because the film will explain it to you in so many words, if you don’t understand what’s happening, don’t worry,. The performances, as a result, are playing to the gallery.
Shaque, written and directed by Rensil D’Silva, relies almost entirely on convenience. I remember reading somewhere recently that OTT platforms now advise filmmakers to design their projects around viewers’ diminishing attention spans. Shaque feels like a shining addition to that category. Repeatedly. In the process, it ends up dumbing down its own plot. Shaque also begins to resemble another recent release, Gandhari, which too revolved around a mother searching for her kidnapped daughter. Parineeti is a good actor otherwise, but here it’s a mixed bag. Tahir Raj Bhasin and Harleen Sethi (as Parineeti’s best friend) are okay. Anuup Soni’s character arc ends abruptly. Jennifer Winget gets a meaty part, and she fares well. Soni Razdan as the mother-in-law is average.
