Chutzpah review: SonyLIV’s new show about the dark side of social media, starring Varun Sharma, Manjot Singh and Elnaaz Norouzi, is uninspired and inconsistent.
With the ubiquity of social media, millions across the world are seduced by the lure of a virtual world which promises instant validation in the form of likes, comments and retweets. Sony LIV’s new show, Chutzpah, explores how all that glitters is not gold, and how the envy-inducing online avatar is more often than not an #instasham. But in doing so, it uses hackneyed tropes, including a social media sensation struggling with body image issues and a John Tucker Must Die-esque conspiracy to bring down a misogynistic womaniser.
Directed by Simarpreet Singh, Chutzpah has distinct yet interconnected stories. Kevin Paul (Gautam Mehra) is a content creator, whose defining trait is reminding everyone to ‘like, share, comment’, and who is hellbent on getting the attention of popular influencer Deepali Shah (Aashima Mahajan). His flatmate, Prateek Chawla (Kshitij Chauhan), brags about being a Casanova who can charm any woman into his bed.
Rishi (Manjot Singh) is a shy guy who struggles to talk to women and turns to porn sites to fulfil his desires. Here, he meets camgirl Wild Butterfly (Elnaaz Norouzi), who harbours a secret of her own.
