City of Dreams – An intense political drama woven in the quintessential journey of Mumbai from the 90s to today

City of Dreams is a new entry in the list of fresh and enticing web series being rolled out on Hotstar this year. Directed by one of Bollywood’s well-known names – Nagesh Kukunoor – it has all the ingredients that make up for a hit Bollywood movie.

The series is about a political family of Mumbai that is synonymous to the state government. An assassination attempt is made on the head of the family which starts a confrontation between his hot-headed spoilt son and his talented yet sidelined daughter for the right over the political leadership of the party. The responsibility to get to the core of this foiled assassination attempt falls in the hands of the most dreaded policemen of yore who had once cleaned up the entire Mumbai city from the presence of underworld but was subsequently forgotten and belittled by his own department. The series of events that follow provide a smooth linkage between the days of the underworld to the current political battle, interspersed with moments of family drama, violence, intimacy and corruption.

The 11-episode series boasts of some big names like Sachin Pilgaonkar and Atul Kulkarni but the major thrust comes from the three main characters – Eijaz Khan, Priya Bapat & Sidharth Chandekar – who easily steal the show with their terrific acting.

It’s an engrossing series with the only flaw being the treatment of the last episode which is loaded with too much action compared to the first 10 episodes and thus seems a little rushed. The story doesn’t have too many twists and turns, but if you have even the slightest inclination towards politics, this series will keep you hooked.