It's one thing to adapt the works of a writer. But it's a different ball game altogether to adapt the works of a writer who also happens to be one of the most celebrated filmmakers of all time.
‘Ray’, the new Netflix series based on the short stories of Satyajit ‘Ray’, is just as uneven as the streamer's other anthologies. And unsurprisingly, it's the usual suspects who stand out.
Unlike the recent Ajeeb Daastaans, which was presented as a feature film told in four chapters — a move that made it vulnerable to collective judgement — Ray is modelled after shows like ‘Black Mirror’ and similar anthologies based on the works of Stephen King or Ray Bradbury. The 'episodes' are actually films in their own right, connected only by the thinnest thematic tissue.
The first, a paranoid thriller directed by Srijit Mukherji and titled ‘Forget Me Not’, is some sort of monument to cancel culture. Ali Fazal plays Ipsit, a corporate shark who is described by his colleagues as a human computer. But a chance encounter with a former flame sends him spiralling into self-doubt.
What Ipsit does for a living is very vague; he's somewhat of a stock CEO-type who's always on call with his assistant, and perpetually surrounded by a gaggle of admirers. Ipsit's rise to the top of the corporate food chain, it is heavily implied, has left a trail of casualties. But his self-obsession prevents him from even registering the men and women in his orbit. The premise of this film — about a man coming to the gradual realisation that is greatest superpower is fading before his eyes — is undeniably intriguing, but the execution gives it an air of preposterousness that is difficult to shake.
‘Forget Me Not’ is hauntingly shot by Swapnil Sonawane, a man who knows a thing or two about capturing Mumbai at nighttime; and the ever reliable Ali Fazal's performance is admirably reigned-in, but the script, by Siraj Ahmed, is too clunky to examine the story's core themes with any sort of depth. The ending, although flashily filmed, robs the chapter of all ambiguity. —Hindustan Times
