Season 1 |
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Episode Guide
Even If We Are Not There…
Little we have, a bit more is needed
Didn’t know where I was going
We Found Him…
If there’s one name synonymous with superstardom in the world of Hindi cinema, it’s the Roshans. Four generations; four incredibly talented individuals. And of course there’s no better avenue to celebrate this than with a four-part Netflix docu-series.
Sporting archival footage, interviews and lots of interesting titbits of information, there’s a smattering of great content in this, and it helps that the Roshans are genuinely humble and nice people.
For those unaware, The Roshan Family are known for their contributions both in front of and behind the camera in Bollywood. The family have consistently pushed the boundaries of expression and innovation, beginning with the music of Roshan Lal Nagrath, a legendary music director whose compositions cemented his legacy as a trailblazer.
The four episodes start with Roshan’s journey before progressing through the generations, seeing the changing face of Hindi cinema through the ages, along with how the Roshans have adapted and grown with the times.
Rakesh Roshan’s journey from a celebrated actor to a talented filmmaker is explored too, along with Rajesh’s music direction, and, finally in the fourth episode, Hrithik Roshan’s career as a vulnerable and versatile actor.
Each episode clocks in at around 50 minutes or so, giving plenty of time to marinate and understand each of the Roshan pillars, giving them time to shine and explaining the ups and downs along the way.
However, given the way this has been put together, it’s very much a celebratory look at their show biz lives so don’t go in expecting tons of personal drama or a peek behind the curtain at how these guys live their day to day lives.
What’s here is certainly good value, and there are some crazy revelations, like a wire break that could have cost Hrithik his life.
Some of the interviews are genuinely interesting too, especially understanding the complexities of the melodies put together by Roshan or the difficulty in filming certain music videos. These are definitely the most interesting part of this documentary and personally, it would have been nice to see more of this.
If there’s one gripe with this documentary though it comes from the target audience. It’s very clear that this is designed for Indian audiences, with some archival interviews not even translated into English, even with the subtitles on.
Furthermore, we do see a smattering of different filmmakers, directors and stars from the Bollywood scene, but not a lot of context surrounding where these guys are famous from or the movies they’ve starred in. It’s not a dealbreaker, because these interviews are sprung together with lots of archival footage from films, both in front of and behind the camera, that keep things interesting.
While it’s far from perfect, and definitely not an objective look at the Roshans (don’t expect any scandals to show up or be discussed in detail here!), if you’re after a celebratory look at an incredibly talented family, The Roshans is certainly worth checking out.
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Verdict - 7.5/10
7.5/10