TV Review - Shantaram Episodes 1&2
Images courtesy of Apple TV+.
Based on the bestselling novel released in 2003, Shantaram tells the story of an escaped convict's search for freedom in India in the 1980s. After escaping prison, Lindsay (Charlie Hunnam) finds himself in the Bombay slums, in a Casablanca-Esque story of redemption, corruption, love, and friendship; surrounded by characters he comes to trust, some who use him for his skills, and others that want him dead.
One of the first phrases Hunnam’s character Lindsay uses in the show is “Escape or die”, which sets up the world remarkably well. The story wastes no time getting into the grittiness of the story, showing us how Lindsay escapes prison through ingenuity and pace, personifying his character as both reckless and capable. After escaping, he visits his former university lecturer, who tells him, “Choice is all you have”, which is a continuing theme throughout the first and second episodes. The show's themes fixate on freedom and choice, posing the question of personal responsibility and accountability; even when rules are insufficient, what morals should one uphold? The show attempts to play its hand in many culturally specific and broader human obsessions; the second episode focuses on the projects of tents, make-shift homes, and the people who inhabit them. Some films like this focus on corruption in India, which is plentiful: however, they tend to gloss over the class discrepancies in everyday society. This film similarly attempts to bring these ideas to attention in specific directions. Examples of films like The White Tiger are much more poignant on this front, but sometimes a TV show or a film must decide whether they will choose corruption, class differences, drug problems, or Femme Fatales, but can’t always do them all at once. This choice, among others, is likely why Shantaram decided to express all of these issues in bites, not chewing more than it could handle. The show backs its choices with its strong direction, editing, sound design, and mise en scene. A small but powerful touch is the intention between each location where one action is similar in the end frame of one location and the beginning frame of the next or breaking away in the next by showing a new and grand environment, all contributing to a coherent and consistent experience of storytelling.
This show is also a triumph for the Australian film and television industry as it was filmed primarily in Melbourne. Last year I walked past a row of film trucks near the Old Treasury Building and asked a passing crew member what they were filming, to which he proudly replied, “Shantaram, the new Apple TV+ show”. That street was Flinders Lane, and in a stroke of coincidence or luck, the screening was at the Kino Cinemas - on the same road they filmed the show. Another shot featured the beautiful park behind the Old Treasury Building in a cute scene between Hunnam and Karla (Antonia Desplat). As a proud Melbournian, it felt extremely special to be not even 100 metres away from where the movie magic happened.
Overall, this show will have you on the edge of your couch, mesmerised by its quality of craft and compelling story, with powerful performances by Charlie Hunnam, Antonia Desplat, Fayssal Bazzi, Sujaya Dasgupta, Elektra Kilbey, and more.
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Shantaram is streaming on Apple TV+ from Friday 14th October.