Hai Junoon Review: Star Rating:
Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Sumedh Mudgalkar, Siddharth Nigam, Priyank Sharma, Boman Irani, Shazahn Padamsee, Anusha Mani, Kunwar Amar, and others
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Director: Abhishek Sharma
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Language: Hindi
Runtime: 20 episodes of 40 minutes each!
The entertainment business is a tough business; trust me when I say this! I mean, there are days when I feel like an entertainment warrior fighting the most absurd content available and dissecting it so that you do not have to waste your precious time. Now, JioHotstar has brought the longest web series of this decade, Hai Junoon! It stars Neil Nitin Mukesh, Jacqueline Fernandez, and others.
The web series is a story about two groups in a college – Supersonics and Misfits. The former is a choir group and the latter is a dance group, and both of them want to compete in a college fest – GOAT! This college fest is so popular that everyone is dying to participate in it!
Now my problem starts with the very first episode! Neil Nitin Mukesh is an alma mater of this college, and his teacher is Boman Irani, who is a musical soul! Neil’s character Gagan is an accomplished singer who has an offer to sing for the British royalty but he declines because, ‘Ye Jo Des Hai Tera’ feeling kicks him!
Gagan joins this college and starts preparing the kids for the ultimate competition. Now, I do not know if the show is real, but it makes me feel so bad for the youth of this country because all of them seem to have a common goal – to become an influencer or join a talent hunt and become famous! Trust me, none of them seem to have any other goals.
To achieve this goal, guess what they do? Sit with their groups at night and discuss their plans, but the problem is all of these plans are made in an intoxicated state, while all of them are two drinks down, but behave like they are 10 drinks down!
This group, of singers and the dancers are mentored by Neil Nitin Mukesh and Jacqueline Fernandez and at the most this web series looks lke a behind the scene shoot of some reality show, say Dance India Dance or India’s Got Talent!
Oh, wait, this might also be an extended ABCD or something of that sort! Or a lite version of Bandish Bandits (but those guys were serious, and these guys are not)! So, I watched this behind-the-scenes snippet of Dance India Dance for 20 episodes, looking at the problems of the youth of this country! And trust me, nothing happens that might move you!
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The web series has stars in abundance – a lot of social media stars and a lot of young stars as well. There is Sumedh Mugdalkar, who played Krishna and won our hearts. Only that he looks too old for a college-going boy. In fact, all the boys for that reason, right from Siddharth Nigam to Priyank Sharma, look out of place in this college. Still, the entire bunch of youngsters try to put in whatever efforts they can to save the show, but it is too drowsy and lazy to be making a point anywhere in its 20-episode run!
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However, it is not that the web series is a fail entirely. It lives in moments but those moments are not enough to be saving an entire life of a web show. The show talks about a lot of things that are important, but makes a point about none of them!
To add to the misery, this web series has a lot of cover versions that are ruining some really good legendary songs, and being a musical soul, I cannot stand it. In fact, Shankar Ehsaan Loy broke my heart with such shady cover versions! (Vishal Shekhar seem like genius for recreating legendary classics in Student Of The Year). The title of this web series is Hai Junoon – it is clearly asking a question without a question mark, but here’s my answer loud and clear – NO!
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Thank God, this ended!
1.5 stars.
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