The Fame Game review: Well-deserved comeback vehicle for Madhuri Dixit!

OTT web series The Fame Game review

In one scene where her husband asks Anamika if she isn't excited about her comeback film, she rebuffs, "Main gayee hi kab thi !" Bejoy Nambiar's The Fame Game marks the foray of Madhuri Dixit into the web arena, where she plays a fictionalized version of herself - the star, the diva in the glitzy world of cinema.

Dixit is Anamika Anand, a raging sensation of yester years whose mysterious disappearance since the last 48 hours has launched a meticulous investigation by the police and sunk her fans into the abyss of immense sadness.

The investigation teams led by Shobha Trivedi( Rajashri Deshpande) observes that that her family is shocked but not entirely and strongly feels that each member is hiding something from them.

Each episode in the 8-part series is directed by Karishma Kohli and Bejoy Nambiar and is created as well as written by Sri Rao. The series flashes back to the events that occurred in the recent past revealing her equations with her close contacts. A strained and compromised relationship with her hubby, Nikhil (Sanjay Kapoor) who is producing her new film, rekindled dynamics with co-actor Manish Khanna( Manav Kaul) who has now become a top star, bothersome kids - Amu(Muskkan Jaferi) and Avi( Lakshvir Singh Saran),and a controlling, hard-to-please, cards-addict mother( played by Suhasini Mulay) make her delusional and distressed.

Nambiar and co-director Karishma Kohli stage the mystery with poetic overtones. The painful truths of Anamika's life beneath her glorious facade engulf the viewer lazily, but are nostalgic odes to the faded star with innumerable references from the actress's real life. She has no qualms in shaking a leg to "Channe ke Khet mein" in the middle of the road with some youngsters or being eulogized as the 'Dhak Dhak girl' by her make-up man. Her swanky mansion, brimming with aesthetics, enshrouds multiple secrecy in her dysfunctional family.