4 min readUpdated: Mar 20, 2026 04:15 PM IST
Jazz City review: The idea of a series set in early 70s Calcutta, revolving around a buzzy nightclub that everyone in the city flocks to, which is the epicentre of intrigue and spry spy-games, is something I thought I could easily get behind: Cal, in the decade when flower-children were doing their thing– there’s a framed photo of Dylan and Baez on which the camera rests for a fleeting second– night spots where the cool cats let down their hair, and the background of revolution: could it get any better?
Apart from a sultry crooner who is the main draw apart from the unlimited booze, there are Pakistani soldiers, khadi-kurta-and-jhola clad Bengali freedom fighters, swaggering men-about-town, and a whole bunch of others in Jazz City, a ten-part show which should have been, by all rights, a cracker.
Sadly, this Soumik Sen directed show belies its promise even as it unspools its first episode: the flat, amateurish staging, with most characters speaking their lines as pieces to camera, and the low-grade production values — that night club, very obviously a set, looks like a coffee-house trying to pass off as a swish club — makes this a long, trying experience, which I felt like abandoning every step of the way, but kept at it in the hope that it will get better.
It doesn’t.
Watch Jazz City trailer here:
The backdrop, of the freedom struggle afoot in what was then East Pakistan, groaning under the brutal jackboots of the rulers in West Pakistan, and the steady rise of Mujibur Rehman, should have resulted in an engaging period drama, which speaks in a mix of Bengali, Hindi and English, setting it apart from the usual shows that we get to see on streamers. But this one lacks cohesion and focus, resulting in a tiresome meander which goes back and forth in time, returning to that night-club, where the suave Jimmy Roy (Arifin Shuvoo) pines over lost love Sheela (Sauraseni Maitra), singer Pamela (Alexandra Taylor) vamps it up to no avail, manager-with-a-secret Rambahadur (Sayandeep Sengupta) skulks in corridors, even as the adda of Bengali ‘aantels’ (intellectuals), smoking pipes and pronouncing dire things, grows.
There’s also the parallel plot of the doings of the Indian intelligence, headed by sharp cop Sinha (Shantanu Ghatak) who has dreamt up the bizarre idea of digging an underground tunnel to help those wishing to flee from the bloody waves of reprisals underway in Dacca, now Dhaka, and other parts of the countryside. Three students, part of the liberation movement, are being hunted down by vicious Pakistani army man Hanif (Shataf Figar) who seems to be a total psychopath when it comes to mowing down his victims, of which there are plenty.
Various threads keep dangling, with each episode coming in at 45-50 minutes, with people busily drinking tea — much chai gets khaabo-ed — striking poses on staircases, tinkling away on the grand piano, blowing into trumpets, bludgeoning heads, digging holes, in repetitive loops. The actors, especially Shuvoo, Ghatak, Maitra and Sengupta, try hard to keep their heads above water, but the rest are left to flounder.
Also Read – Dhurandhar 2 Movie Review: Ranveer Singh’s 4-hour marathon lacks the ‘mazaa’ of the original despite blood and bazookas
Story continues below this ad
There was potential here, but it is let down by the length and laxity, a rare misfire for SonyLIV, which has mastered the art of creating and presenting solid period drama, the last of which was the terrific Freedom At Midnight. And the music, in a series which calls itself by that name, never soars.
Jazz City cast: Arifin Shuvoo, Shantanu Ghatak, Alexandra Taylor, Sauraseni Maitra, Sayandeep Sengupta, Shataf Figar
Jazz City director: Soumik Sen
Jazz City rating: One and a half stars
Jazz City is streaming on SonyLIV.