Jubilee series review: Aparshakti Khurana, Sidhant Gupta and Wamiqa Gabbi stand out in this opulent drama

Vikramaditya Motwane's latest web series Jubilee opens up like a stunning painting and transports you back to the bygone era of Indian cinema- often considered as the golden age of cinema. Motwane's series explores the initial years of Hindi cinema when visionary filmmakers explored with new forms of storytelling and introduced playback music. Written by Motwane, Atul Sabharwal and Soumik Sen- Jubilee also explores India of the 1940s when the nation was on the brink of partition and how it affected the lives of millions across.

Loosely based on Indian cinema's first power couple Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani's life, the series has Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee playing filmmaker and studio Roy Talkies head Srikant Roy. Ruthless, calculative and a businessman- Srikant is on a hunt to launch a new face called 'Madan Kumar' in his next film. His wife and co-owner of Roy Talkies, Sumitra Devi (Aditi Rao Hydari) would be the film's female lead. After numerous auditions, Srikant has narrowed Jehangir Khan (Nandish Singh Sandhu)as Madan Kumar. The only problem is that Jehangir is having a torrid affair with Sumitra Devi in Lucknow. The two plan to elope to Karachi where Jehangir wants to pursue theatre.

Srikant summons his trusted aid, Binod Das (Aparshakti Khurana in a breakout role) to convince the lovers to come back to Bombay in order to start shooting. Sumitra makes her way back to Bombay in the hope that she would elope with Jehangir while he is on his way to Karachi but communal riots mid-way change Jehangir's course of the journey leaving the Roys high-dry on who would ultimately be launched as Madan Kumar.

The series also has a terrific soundtrack courtesy Amit Trivedi who beautifully defines music of that era perfectly. Alokananda Dasgupta's background score also adds heft to the narrative.

The show, though, does not leave a defining impact. It's a story that scratches only the surface and its grandeur overshadows the story and performances. It also does not help that each episode is far too long with too little happening on the screen.

With only 5 episodes out at the moment, Jubilee looks promising only for its cast and the grandeur that comes with it. It needs your patience as the story has several layers to it and the unravelling, it seems, has just begun.
Jubilee is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.