The makers unveiled the trailer for Showtime, the upcoming web series exploring the dark underbelly of Bollywood, on Tuesday, February 13. The Disney+ Hotstar show has a star-studded cast featuring Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi, Mahima Makwana, Mouni Roy, Rajeev Khandelwal, Shriya Saran, and Vijay Raaz.
In the trailer, Emraan is seen playing the role of an influential film producer named Raghu Khanna. Mahima Makwana plays the reported Mahika Nandy, who discusses topics like nepotism on television. In the most crucial scene from the trailer, Emraan says to Mahima, "Nepotism ke mukhaute ke peeche aakhir mein har outsider insider banna chahta hai (at the end, every outsider wants to become an insider behind the garb of nepotism)." And Mahima replies to him, "Aap maal bechiye, main filmein banaungi (Go and sell your senseless films, I will make cinema)."
Created by Sumit Roy and directed by Mihir Desai and Archit Kumar, Showtime is touted to be an "epic saga of legacy and ambition in the world of cinema", which will give the audience a sneak peek into what goes behind the multi-million dollar industry of Bollywood, nepotism and the power struggles at the top.
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Interestingly, the show is produced by Karan Johar, who himself has been accused of allegedly promoting nepotism in the Hindi film industry, under Dharmatic Entertainment - the digital wing of Dharma Productions. Apoorva Mehta, Somen Mishra, and Mihir Desai act as the co-producers.
Also starring Lilette Dubey, Vishal Vashishtha, Neeraj Madhav, Gurpreet Saini, and Denzil Smith, Showtime will start streaming on Disney+ Hotstar from March 8. The show is written by Sumit Roy, Lara Chandni, Mithun Gangopadhyay, while Jehan Handa and Karan Shrikant Sharma have penned the dialogues. Anand Bhaskar has composed the music for the web series.
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