Review of Indian TV Series ‘Hostages’ on Hotstar

Review

An Indian adaptation of an Israeli TV series is now streaming on Hotstar, of which I am going to write a review of Hotstar’s ‘Hostages.’

When I first watched the trailer of Hotstar’s “Hostages,” it intrigues me into watching the entire series.

Great actors like Ronit Roy, Tisca Chopra featuring in the lead role, both playing important characters in the series.

Tisca Chopra playing a renowned doctor Dr. Mira Anand and her family is held captive in their house one night by a gang led by Ronit Roy playing SP Prithvi Singh.

The protection of the family is in the hands of Dr. Mira if she can kill the CM in the hospital. The CM will undergo an operation which will be handled by Dr. Mira, and it is a great opportunity for her career to grow.

But something else was destined to happen. Prithvi told Dr. Mira exactly how to kill the CM.

Obviously, the CM won’t be dead so soon. So, there took place some dramatic twist where Dr. Mira did something which made the operation got postponed.

I am surprised, did she not get scared for the protection of her family by doing this act of bravery?

If so, then I suppose she could even have the guts to do something which could actually save her and her family from this trouble.

The story was too obvious.

Hence, no element of suspense or thrilling factor either.

Now, the question remains, will she kill a man to protect her family from dying?

The story is exciting but has it able to hold my attention?

I would say a clear no.

This is supposed to be a thriller series, but it lacks the most. The series tries hard to bring that element of suspense, but it kills that moment by showing some nuisance in the sub-plot.

For example, the character Shovan, who is the son of Dr. Mira is a disaster. His continuous irrational dialogues even in front of the abductors, showing no sense of fear is hard to digest.

Despite having access to a mobile phone, he chose to send some random messages to a girl from his school rather than seeking help.

Well, what was he thinking? His consistently acting cool and roaming in the house in the presence of 3 other captors.

When the captives weren’t scared, how can we the audience be afraid of?

The director has tried to add comic relief through the character of Shovan, but it was a vain attempt.

Also, the ill-tempered character Prince, who is a gang member of Prithvi’s, is unproductive too. His unreasonable temper, having an intention to beat every now and then, getting into an intimate moment with his girlfriend (part of gang member) in that tensed situations, clearly making no sense.

The series did starts off with a boom but gradually loses its tempo and eventually lost somewhere.

Tisca Chopra as Dr. Mira Anand put a decent performance altogether. Her expression at every situation is spot on, and it was only her character I felt was able to detect the sense of tension and stress in her family.

Both are great actors and have given a great many performances in their career. I felt the director haven’t utilized their talent and left too much gap in the direction and screenplay.

I really liked the ending of the series. The ending has finally brought some meaning in which Tisca Chopra has done a marvelous job. It was good to see a balance with everything. There wasn’t any unnecessary sub-plots in the climax which made it interesting to watch.

As this is an adaptation, the story can’t be changed, but the character creativeness could be improved if there is a season 2.

I wouldn’t instead care to see if there is a Season 2 of Hostages. Hotstar may be one of the most significant video streaming in India but proves how much lagging behind they are to create a good original show.

I love reviewing series and movies that I watch. Wait for the next review to come.

If you like Tisca Chopra, you will love watching her performance in a short film named “Chutney” on YouTube.

You can also read reviews of other Indian TV series like Made in Heaven, Selection Day, TVF’s Kota Factory and Hotstar’s Criminal Justice.