No. Four more seasons, please!

[the following article contains spoilers]


Four more shots please is undoubtedly Amazon Prime India’s first successful women-led franchise in the OTT space. Being a part of a solid girl gang myself, my girls and I loved the season one and we were waiting for season two to air since so long. The moment the season two aired, all five of us thanked God for blessing us. There are, like, a hundred reasons why four more shots please was a very important web series in terms of entertainment. Along with being entertaining, the season two dealt with huge problems such as sexism in the workplace, being in a relationship with a person suffering from bipolar disorder, female friendships and the strength a group of girls have, all together, body issues, families and different types of them, all the obstacles that come with being a single mother and the list can go on.

First off, I want to thank the directors to produce a show for womxn. All my life, all the movies, web shows I’ve seen, I always felt like they were never made for me. Everything always catered to the male gaze. The best part of the show was their friendship. No matter what happened, they had each other’s back. The season one ended on a drastic note – all four of them had huge problems in their life & on top of that, they were away from each other, because of a fight. But in season two, whatever happened with the four of them, they were together. That is the power of a strong friendship.
The show has four different womxn as lead & all of them have to face different problems.


Siddhi urf Hormonal Patel
The most impactful storyline was of Siddhi Patel. Being overweight, she didn’t really ‘like’ herself. She had to battle Body Issues, a thing every person has to undergo. Siddhi found her body unappealing and didn’t appreciate it enough. In the first season, Siddhi found the key to self-love through a weird way, but the important thing is that, eventually, she did find it. Feelings of validation and self-love manifest in every individual in a different manner. I can’t really blame Siddhi or hate on her just because her process of loving herself was something I wouldn’t do. She is a different individual and respecting her choices of finding self-love, appreciating her body is what I must pursue. In season two, Siddhi focuses on her career as a stand-up comedian, and she ends one of her sets with a splendid punchline.

She says, “So now when people ask me ‘Hey, Siddhi! What’s up?’ I just tell them: my self-esteem.”

And let me tell you, that one dialogue of hers upped MY self-esteem manifold.


Anjana Menon
Anjana is a divorced single mother & in this season, she faces problems at her workplace. Anjana does not have closure from her ex-husband and their relationship is kind of a nagging presence all throughout their interactions. And the part of her that loved him in the first place did pop in the middle. It makes the show even rawer and real and how our feelings are sometimes out of control. But, also, how we have the power to control them once we begin to feel them. Anjana also has to face a lot of sexism at her workplace which makes her resign from the firm. She then joins another firm where she ends up hooking up with a male colleague. The catch is that the male colleague is married. He tells Anjana that it is an open marriage, and Anjana believes him. However, it all goes haywire in the end. The thing we take away from here is how men do whatever they want. At both the workplaces, Anjana suffered because of the actions of her male colleagues. How men are dominant.


Damini Rizvi Roy
An open-minded, fierce journalist. In this season, Damini writes a book on an extremely sensitive and controversial subject and no publisher is ready to publish it. Why, you ask? Because everyone is scared of how such a powerful book might land them in trouble. Damini is a very strong character. A major hurdle in her life is also the fact that she’s torn between two men. A man she loves & the other, her gynaecologist whom she frequently hooks up with. The casual hooking up does stir up some struggle later — Damini gets pregnant with the child of her gynaecologist just when she’s begun her love life with the man she loves. To keep the baby or to not keep the baby is a difficult decision she has to make, and the way it has been portrayed on the screen is extremely truthful. Because such decisions are not easy. However, what happens was way too predictable by the end. But, Damini never loses her spirit, she remains the glorious, fierce lady as she was.


Umang
Umang is a gym trainer in Mumbai and belongs to a very Orthodox Punjabi family. She falls in love with a superstar, Samara Kapoor and her life is turned upside down. In season 2, we see how Umang does not give up on her love. All the while Samara battles her mental health issues, Umang stays right next to her, helps her overcome all the struggles. Representation of a wlw relationship in an Indian web series was a power move. Critics might say that this was to sell the show because two women kissing sells. (Ahh, don’t get me started on that for now) But, this was extremely important. Getting to see a proper wlw relationship without any shitty stereotypes was so refreshing.

Usually, same-sex relationships are just a side character in the main story. It makes their presence in the world unimportant and worthless. Having to see an expressive wlw relationship on screen was magical and honest. They portrayed the beauty of being in a relationship— believing in each other, respecting each other’s decisions, caring about each other and even the mild insecurities. Everything was on point.

Not much of Umang’s relationship with her parents and her family back in Punjab was addressed in this season, which might be a con to think about it, but to focus on the positives, I think it was a good thing to do. Because I’m personally tired of the coming out battle & fighting against our families to make them believe how orthodox they are and all that. For once, we needed to have a simple wlw relationship with simple relationship problems and not the major problems gay people face. The giver taker relationship theory was also addressed and that did make an impact since it had a lot of parts to play in the “Umara” relationship. Umang is that chirpy friend in your squad, free-spirited & extremely lovable. By the end of the season, Umang still remains the same.


This web series is also getting a lot of backlashes just because everyone thinks that sex and shots do not make up for women empowerment. I really want them to know how, when men have sex and drink shots, did we ever say it’s about male liberation or empowerment? Sex has always been a man’s pleasure. Women’s pleasure has been a taboo. People are getting butthurt because here are four flawed, unapologetic women living their lives, with sex and shots.


The best ship is friendship, Our hearts will go on and on and on. Fuck the Titanic.

E01,S02


Four more shots please is an important web series to watch if you want to see female friendships. Personally, I’ve grown up watching movies revolving around friendships between men. And women in their lives are just either their family members or love interests. Be it Dil Chahta Hai, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, 3 Idiots or the whole Golmaal franchise. Everything caters to the male gaze.

Around me, I have seen amazing female friendships, solid girls and the beautiful friendship they cherish, but I never saw that on the screen, it felt off.

I was always surrounded by powerful friendships and none of it was represented on screen. It has always baffled me how almost everything is just made for the upper caste, able-bodied, cis men. Four more shots please, as a web series, made my dreams come true. With a strong friendship and a lot of love. In the end, all of the four main characters have HUGE problems, all of their lives are nearly destroyed, but they are together. Hugging and loving each other. With each other. Together. And I think that’s what we should take away from them. That is the beauty of a strong friendship, male or female. But then again, there have been too many male friendships to cherish on screen, I needed this dose of four more shots to calm myself and remind me of how females are strong as hell and so is the friendship they birth.