The Insiders Review

Four kids end up becoming best friends because their parents meet up every weekend. The three boys are apprehensive to include the latest entrant, a girl. But all boils down in the end and the four have whacky adventures – so whacky that sometimes the audience wonders whether it is all a fantasy for them.

The Insiders is a unique web series – and a very bold one for the streaming audiences in 2019. The performances are great, the story arcs in each episode are interesting enough, and the characters are all so endearing that audiences will be only too happy to let go of suspension of disbelief. The kicker here are the current event references, like the 2G Scam, the state of the media, so on and so forth. Omkar Kulkarni is the life of the series. Himika Bose gives an excellent performance as well. If Omkar is the life of the series, Brij Bhushan Shulka with his cranky dialogues paves the way for this entertainer.

What is admirable is that there’s rarely any sequence that is not blown out of proportion, but it never feels redundant or boring; because behind all the hyperbole lies a tiny touch of reality that makes the show entertaining and engaging. In fact, the crazy, nonsensical, absurd events will make you laugh out loud.

The four leads, Omkar, Ritvik, Arnav and Himika, have done an excellent job at portraying their characters. The crazy quotient of the series is made approachable by their steady performances, balancing the hyperactive storyline. Apart from them, Brij Bhushan Shukla deserves a special mention for his lively performance as Bhalla, Rabbi’s father, cracking you up with his ‘Dad jokes’.

The Insiders is an artistic piece that speaks loudly between the lines. Behind all the crazy, it takes a dig at various pop culture references, Indian media, parenting, and the overall perception of the older generation towards the millennials.

The best part of this series is that it doesn’t burden itself with the nitty gritty that works into the scripts of a coming of age comedy, the romantic angle, the social message, etc. This is just about four kids growing up.

The show beautifully brings out peculiar characteristics from each of the protagonists, taking us back to our weird group of friends. They're short, 20 minute, snackable episodes that capture the essence of practically everyone's teen age. And once you're done with all five episodes, you will want to watch them all over again.