{"id":97083,"date":"2022-10-14T16:47:51","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T16:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/apple-tv-plus-shantaram-adaptation-is-misguided-and-monotonous\/"},"modified":"2022-10-14T16:47:51","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T16:47:51","slug":"apple-tv-plus-shantaram-adaptation-is-misguided-and-monotonous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/apple-tv-plus-shantaram-adaptation-is-misguided-and-monotonous\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple TV Plus’ Shantaram adaptation is misguided and monotonous"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Charlie Hunnam and Shubham Saraf in Shantaram<\/em><\/figcaption>
photo: Apple TV+<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Apple TV+’s Shantaram<\/em><\/span>, an adaptation of Gregory David Roberts’ sprawling, almost 1,000-page novel of the same name, certainly seemed promising enough. After all, the story combines the elements of a tense thriller, a mafia tale, an emotional drama, and even a romance. It’s too bad, then, that these components are so poorly mashed together, and that the show’s 12 excruciatingly slow hour-long episodes fail to offer much in the way of insight or nuance. and while Shantaram <\/em>features stellar performances from leads Charlie Hunnam and Shubham Saraf, as well as exceptional camerawork by director Bharat Nalluri, they can’t overcome the series’ downright infantile writing.<\/p>\n

The show follows Dale Conti (Hunnam), who adopts the name Lin Ford after escaping from an Australian prison and running off to Mumbai, India (now called Mumbai), in 1982. In this fish-out-of-water story about a foreigner seeking a fresh start in another part of the world, Lin finds a best friend in his tour guide, Prabhu (Saraf), and a community in the slums where he lives.<\/p>\n

Among the show’s many challenges is that it trembles under the \u201cwhite savior complex\u201d trope, even if tries not to. With Lin at the center of a story in a world he doesn’t naturally belong to, that’s almost impossible to avoid. As soon as he settles into the Sagar Wada shanties, living in a hut alongside Prabhu, the former paramedic begins to offer up medical services. This leads to scenes of slum-dwellers gratefully showering him with praise, gifts, and in some cases, actually falling at his feet. It’s an absurd sight to watch on screen in the year 2022.<\/p>\n