POSTCARDS

POSTCARDS: A Nollywood-Bollywood Mini-Series That Lacks Synergy.

Nollywood-Bollywood collaboration in recent times has become increasingly frequent, and this partnership does seem to continually grow and we love it, we take a nose dive into one of the recent product of this collaboration.

Postcards is a mini-series showing on Netflix. The series tells the story of Aunty Olubunmi(Sola Sobowale), who decides to live fully after losing her husband twenty years ago. Living to her new resolutions, she’s now the mover and shaker of all the big parties in Lagos. With all its gilts and glamour, Aunty Olubunmi never misses out on any party. But despite being the life of the party, she returns home, lonely and alone, to face the harsh reality of her life: her failing health and her distant son, who never reaches out to her.

On the other hand, Aunty Bunmi’s son, Oluyemi(Tobi Bakre), struggles with the hardship of surviving in Nigeria as a dancer. With no goals and aspirations aside from dancing, Yemi anticipates leaving Nigeria someday. Well, luck came on his side, and an Indian agency selected him as a backup dancer for one of their projects. Meanwhile, Aunty Bunmi’s brother Olumide(Richard-Mofe Damijo) has already settled in India for a long time. He is an established businessman without time for family, or socialization. If it is not business, he is not interested. This makes him unapproachable, cold, and challenging to work with, and the only person who can stand him is his accountant, Kabir

.

Also, Yemi while in India faces challenges as a backup dancer in a Bollywood movie, he is troubled by Ronny, one of the lead dancers, who bullies him because he’s different. Although his fellow dancer Aarti stands up for Yemi and helps him with choreography, their relationship seems steaming to love.

Being sick and in need of utmost treatment, Aunty Bunmi flies to India where she is told her health crisis would require an operation. While in India, she tries to make peace with her brother, Olumide and reunite with her son, Oluyemi.

Would Aunty Bunmi ever reunite with her son? Would Olumide ever find love again?  How will Yemi navigate his new career in India?

Well, while it feels like there is a story, it does look like it was not well told. One noticebale loophole is the lack of synergy in the plot.

The movie does not give a proper background and introduction to many cast, for instance, we are not introduced to Oluyemi properly, we do not know anything asides the fact he wanted to be a professional dancer, there was nothing to know about him as a person and his relationship with specific casts. We are also left in the dark as regards the cold relationship between him and his mum, Aunty Bunmi. What transpired in the past? Does a child just hate his mother for no just reason? What also transpired between Aunty Bunmi and her brother, Olumide? Each scene left viewing this with many unanswered questions. Also, what did we watch as regards Sidarth and his wife Zainab, we understand cultural differences, but a representation of a married couple could have been way better.

Well, while the final scene tried to amalgamate all these gaps, it just did not seem to align.

One notable thing about the movie was the choice of cast, while the movie lacks some synergy and chemistry, the movie does ride on notable actors for some marketing.

Hamisha Daryani Abuja is becoming increasingly in the Nollywood-Bollywood space, and this quite laudable, while there is still more room for improvement in storytelling in this space, we however commend the initiative.

Despite a shaky plot, the mini-series does have some great editing and laudable cinematography, the movie gives a good visual odyssey of Lagos and India. The movie makes up for in technicality what it lacks in creativity, and this is a plus.

Notable cast in this are: Sola Sobowale, Tobi Bakre,Richard Mofe Damijo, Nancy Isime, Tina Mba, Rahama Sadau, Rajneesh Duggal(Bollywood), Rio Kapadia(Bollywood)

Star Performer(s)- Nil

The actors acted as expected of their various character type.

From All of us at RealNollywood, we score the series 40%.

The series streams live on Netflix.