Industry: Amazon Mini TV Series Is An Impassioned Take On The Big Bollywood Dream

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THERE’s an impactful scene in the first episode of Amazon Mini TV’s latest series Industry, directed by Navjot Gulati, that encapsulates the struggle of being a screenwriter in Mumbai: The episode (aptly titled ‘Narration’) shows our protagonist Ayush Verma (a sincere Gagan Arora) at a Bollywood party, when he finally gets his first paycheque for a script he wrote many years ago. He sits in shock and silence, staring at the cheque as if it were a pot of gold. And then appears The Viral Fever OG Abhishek Banerjee (playing himself in this scene), like he usually does in pilot episodes, to propel the story ahead (refer: Pitchers pilot episode and “tu beer hai”).

Instead of patting him on the back, Banerjee says, “Complacent mat ho jaana. Abhi mehnat shuru hui hai teri. Aage aur g**nd lagni baaki hai. Phir tu samjhega, acchi aur hit film ka part hona koi miracle se kum nahi hai.” To this, a teary-eyed Ayush says, “Gyaan dene ke badle, congratulations bol deta,” and Banerjee cheekily responds, “Hatt bc, tera industry friend hoon mein? Best of luck bolunga, kyunki yahaan luck ki bohot zaroorat hoti hai.”

Much like this scene, the ambitious but heart-warming five-part series, Industry is seeped in references about the Hindi film industry, with a romanticisation of the struggle of “making it big”. There’s even a tagline for it, in typical TVF style: “Hawa Badlegi.”

Director Navjot Gulati finds a wonderful balance in tone; Industry is neither Madhur-Bhandarkar-melodramatic nor does it take itself too seriously. The show has many similarities with Luck By Chance but not to the point of being repetitive. The meta references that are generously sprinkled throughout the show may seem “jargonny” to Bollywood noobs; and yet, they feel familiar in the same way a bowl of dal-chawal does.

Industry begins and ends at Mannat, a hat-tip to the original “outsider” turned King of Bollywood, following the struggle of screenwriter Ayush Verma, and his band of “Versova/Aaram Nagar” strugglers. The world-building is replete with delicious characters and in following their journeys, you feel like you know them, you know their highs and lows. There are the two women Ayush oscillates between: Sanya Sen (Asha Negi), a popular TV actress who has a massive following but has sacrificed her stable career to make it big in films; and Gayatri (Ankita Goraya), who is Ayush’s writing partner and a feisty, opinionated liberal, whose ideas are often too modern for the “uncle-producers” of Bollywood.

Speaking of uncle-producers, Chunky Pandey plays Rakesh Raman — a Romy Roli-esque old school producer who also doubles up as a real estate agent — almost to perfection, lighting up the screen every time he’s on it. There’s Lakshay Wadhwani (Lakshay Kochar), a Jacky Bhagnani/Arjun Kapoor type of insider who earnestly wants to find a place for himself in the industry and not ride on the back of his father’s pet projects. As a nepo kid character, you would assume that he would override a few outsiders, or throw his weight around, but the writers subvert this trope beautifully by highlighting his struggle (internal and external). In choosing to have Lakshay be the one who gets duped, and Gagan the slave-to-fame who ends up doing whatever it takes to sell his script, the series humanises both characters, and offers a nuanced perspective to the tired outsider vs insider debate.

The easter eggs are aplenty: writers who spend their whole day at Blue Tokai in Versova sipping black coffee, snacks from Candies in film screenings/narrations, celebrations at WTF, the Aaram Nagar chip-on-the-shoulder (these are areas in Andheri West in Mumbai that are synonymous with the industry) cameos galore (from Guneet Monga to Kunal Kapoor), wealthy producers buying rights of South/Hollywood films to launch their talentless kids, the MBA-fication of film studios, the lip service variety of equality and inclusivity — I could go on. The beauty of these clever callbacks is that they’re not too intimate so as to alienate non-filmi folk, but they’re enough to pique interest.

Most of the storylines in Industry humorously and effortlessly play out, making the crisp, five-episode narrative easy to binge. Director Navjot Gulati’s voice is subtle and with such a rich subject matter, he manages to cherry-pick “issues” to highlight. Topmost of the lot is the idea that as a screenwriter in Mumbai, you either live long enough to see yourself go from vilifying the establishment to becoming a slave of it, or you die trying. From the beginning of the series, we follow Ayush as he narrates the climax of his dream script, Dhoom Dhadaka. In every narration, his expressions are the same, and he never tires of being passionate about his story. By the time we hear this narration for the eighth time, we’re almost reciting it with him.

Ayush goes through many interested parties and buyers for his scripts, but he is never able to crack it in a way that makes him happy. And so he needs to resort to insincere ways: like walking over the contributions of his partners, over-promising deliverables or agreeing with casting choices despite knowing better, and passing off others’ ideas as his own. Gayatri and Ayush embody the everyday conflicts of writers, and you really want them to make it big. Their ideas are crackling (I would put my money behind “Swaad Anusaar”). Here are two strugglers with their backs against the big bad world of entertainment, but the industry eventually turns them against each other. As it always happens. As we’ve all heard before.

Casting fresh faces in pivotal roles is a risk that sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t. At first you wish the people playing these familiar roles, telling these “heard-before” stories were faces you have followed and watched for years. It’s what helped a film like Luck By Chance age so well, and become the definitive film about films, over the years. However, five episodes later, you start to relate with these characters like they are your friends.

Industry isn’t flawless. Sometimes it feels like too much is happening, and that there’s too much to say, even though the pace and episode count temporarily pose as solutions. In some scenes, one wishes the focus stayed on the magic and romance of movies instead of the struggle of “making it big” and therefore, it becomes slightly confusing to understand what Gulati’s Big Point is. Is this merely a reflection of the entertainment business or is Industry trying to sell us a POV?

For a show about writers, it’s important to mention the pen masters of Industry here. Navjot Gulati, Shreyansh Pandey, Shreemi Verma and Girish Jotwani, take a bow. Good, bad, watchable, bingeable — are all merely labels. Your show is out, on a wide-reaching platform, criticism is subjective, and credit is permanent. It’s time to celebrate. Drinks at WTF?

Where to watch.