User Reviews

Anirban Bhattacharya's directorial debut, Mandaar, is a hard-hitting TV series. There's not a moment that is wasted here and from minute 1 you are treated to how twisted and horrible people can be. Based on Macbeth, the series is gnarly and oftentimes difficult to watch.

Mandaar is extremely well-crafted. As I mentioned previously, the series wastes no time to get the show running. The storyline flows smoothly and with enough mystery and intrigue to keep you thoroughly invested in what happens next. The camera-work and cinematography are also to be appreciated for that as well. The series looks excellent and the way the series is shot gives an extra air of mystery to the entire thing.

Mandaar is set in Geilpur and for people who have read Macbeth, this is going to be something to look forward to. Not just for the characters and understanding who is whom, but also for the story itself. How does the series encapsulate everything that William Shakespeare wrote all those years ago? How do political ambitions shape a person's life? The ramifications of greed are a part and parcel of Macbeth and Bhattacharya does well with setting it in a small town with small-town people. Power is power, whether you live in a castle or hut.

Either way, Mandaar breaks the Bengali notion that we don't make good TV shows. Although not for everyone because the series is extremely brutal and in-your-face, it's a good watch for those who like shows based on reality. Because, let's face it, being the handyman for the local bad guy comes with its fair share of problems - problems that we will never understand. Its reality is what makes Mandaar a good watch.

However, I understand the notion that we, as a country, are probably a bit saturated with media focusing on violence to push it forward. There's a certain tiredness that comes with watching the worst of humanity every time we open a streaming platform. And thus, as I mentioned previously, this isn't for everyone. But, if you're willing to take in another show with (kind of) similar things to showcase, Mandaar should definitely be on your watchlist.

The characters in Mandaar are absolutely brilliantly portrayed. The way Bhattacharya has taken the characters from the original material and given it a twist is excellent. These characters are complex, flawed and very unlikeable. Mandaar, Leili, Dablu Bhai and the Three Witches are characters that will surprise and shock you and will give you something to think about. But, going deeper into this might just push this Mandaar review into spoiler territory, so watch it to make your own connections!

Debasish Mondal wins this series. The series is based on him, obviously, and he does really well with what he is given. You won't be able to look away from him and neither from Sohini Sarkar, who also gives a terrific performance. The others are great too, including the Three Witches (wink regarding the third witch), and will all of people giving their best towards the show, you know one of the biggest hurdles are already won.

Mandaar is an excellent series. There's nothing else to say. The way Anirban Bhattacharya has based his show on Shakespeare's classics is commendable and everything from the camera work, cinematography, acting and background score to creating the characters and mythos is top-notch. Yes, there gratuitous amounts of sex scenes and people just being their humanly worst but it's a necessity to showcase this story and works really well for it.

I mean who doesn't like a proper Shakespearean tragedy where one get to witness how over ambition and its consequences can bring downfall to the strongest and most obedient of all?

Yes, it's Macbeth again.

Anirban Bhattacharya's "Maandar" is an excellent adaptation of Macbeth. This man truly captured the essence of Shakespeare's writing and brought it on live screen.

Anirban is technically skilled I must admit, Very impressive direction to camera to sound, he pulled of everything right.

Not just technically but morally too. He exploits the "psychological reflection","guilt, and fate", of the characters beautifully.

Will look out for his next work.

Foot note: ott platform are allowing the artistic freedom to explore their full potential? Like strong language and violence don't have to be censored anymore! I think so.

So much to give.... Waiting for many recreations on classics.... Cinematography, acting, location, aerial shots, dialects, lightings, cameraworks, characterization, everything surpassed so called as usual web series. We will be waiting for recreation of other classics from the director and the team.... Best of luck...

I read Macbeth, saw Macbeth movie. Witches are great.. The Protagonist and as well as Antagonistic is Mandaar.. just love it.. acting is awesome. Cinematography is outstanding. Macbeth k keu Geilpurer prekkhapot dite pare eta out of imagination..

Wow ! A landmark in Bengali Cinema ! One of the best Indian Web Series ...... Direction of Anirban Bhattacharya was amazing . Really liked the series . This type of mind - blowing series should be made more so that our bengali content can reach to top again .

A quite titillating and visceral adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth; Mandaar, with a purpose, displays devastating pursuance of Power and Political longings! Much like the original play, the treatment here, as anticipated is mostly gritty and the dark & twisted approach simply prevails.

With innumerable metaphors and some extraordinary performances; this directorial debut for the 'Actor' Anirban Bhattacharya has been nothing but a testimony to his immense talents.

Greed, Lust, Desperation; all shaped and moulded in one or another way through this relatively contemporized re-telling of Macbeth. Except for a few rookie missteps and a handful number of scowling loopholes; Director Anirban made sure the true essence of the original Shakespearean tale stay ever so pertinent. And with such ingenious and trusted minds behind the Sound and Camera; on a technical level alone, this has set yet another example.

The same impression applies to the whole ensemble as well. From the debutant Debashish Mondal to a veteran like Anirban Bhattacharya; everyone has been pretty sensational in their respective positions.

However, among this very talented group of individuals, one shockingly outweighed all! That is none other than Sohini Sarkar, in the role of Laili (or Lady Macbeth). I would go as far as to say, she's been some sort of a revelation here!

Mostly all of the hoichoi originals are really bad and unworthy of watching; saying this from my experience of watching hyped 2-3 shows. But this time it was a good attempt. The acting was great. Though the screenplay was messy. Could've fit the whole story in a movie rather than stretching it for a mini series.

Kudos to anirban bhattacharya for the incredible work, camera work, lights, presentation, concept, everything was brilliant, the small boy just freaked out with his acting skills, Overall a mind blowing series. Anirban, you rock.

What a debut from Anirban as a director with this project, absolutely a brilliant series. And it is not easy to do an experiment with this kind of novels. Sohini Sarkar did a excellent job in this..

One of the best Bengali series.

Positive sides: 1. Acting dependent is just on fire, everyone is just perfect at their character 2. Cinematography is just topnotch. Dron shots are really eye pleasing.

3. Bgm is just ❤❤ gives you chills time to time Negative side: 1. Screenplay is little abrupt. Starting is lil slow and ending is lil rushed 2. Not for everyone.

The storyline of this series is good and the acting is also very much good. Overall very good series with an amazing story and interesting story and the very good acting. Overall I enjoyed the series very much.

Don't jump to the conclusion by seeing others' review, I really don't get it why others are saying it's worth watching. To be honest, it's full of boring scenery of lust, greed and couple of cruel murders. If you want to get bored then go for it. Even, Anirban Bhattacharya have also played a layman police role. It's not adaptation of Macbeth totally stigma to the Macbeth. If William Shakespeare was alive surely he will die with full of regrets by seeing his story adopted like this. Total garbage, fully dissatisfied.

The webseries feels like a movies for cannes Film Festival and a modern remake of cannes classic gandu after a decade. It must be named gandu 2.0 with lead character mandaar as Gandu, police inspector as his rikshawala frnd and sohini as a new avatar of Rii in gandu 1.0. Why bengali wenseries are usually so complicated...

One of the many adaptations of Macbeth by William Shakespeare which is raw and scintillating at the same time balancing the concept of power and lust simultaneously , a good attempt by the makers for sure and it's a one time watch without any doubt.

Power, ambition, malignance, duplicity, perfidy, supernatural and parental love are some of the key themes which Anirban Bhattacharya has bared in his debut web series "Mandaar". Based on William Shakespeare's one of the most iconic tragedies "Macbeth", it does not fail to live up to neither the adaptation, nor the hype it received.

The cinematography's excellence is clearly visible from the first episode of the series. The gritty coloring of each episode when showing the characters gives off their vibe to add to the flow. Politics have been so well and discernably shown that it easily highlights itself as a theme. The famous economist, Marshall aptly said that human wants are unlimited. This constant creation of wants i.e. Greed fueled by ambition, serves as one of the main factors, i.e. Power in the story. If you have power, you have money. They are complimentary, not substitutes. The foundation of Macbeth wasn't anomalous. The portraying of each character was exemplary in complimenting to the cinematography and the story kudos to the performances of Sohini Sarkar and Debashish Mondal. The story was perfectly matched with the Bengali countryside atmosphere of a fishing hub and solid reasons for their wants.

However, elements like the life of the environment, prominently the fishing hub, were not lively. Macbeth was written as play, a drama, which made sense when the importance of the characters was given more, but this is a web series. The balance felt off because we did not need to rely on imagination anymore. Explicit scenes were overused to show the gritty nature but it could have been altered with a different ilk. The character Macduff was replaced with a theme instead, i.e. Parental love. It was for this love that even W and the witch cared for their son no matter how evil they were. The music was alright except for that occasional percussionish type sound which worked well for the setting.

The BGM and the cinematography was the main attraction in the series. It was surreal and very catchy. No room for bad actors. The cast selection was spot on. Enjoyed it. Thumbs up.

After a long time, I watch an international level of Bengali series ... Game of Thrones of Bengali counterpart... Camera, makeup, character, inner meaning of story ... Sohini Anirban is there with acting ... Pedo, Manju Buri , King's father, Mandar, Fantus, Lakumani, Laku's grandfather, whose name is omitted !!? Waiting for More Anirban Production ...

The direction was very similar to a social media food influencer trying to make a unique recipe by adding random stuffs hoping that the final product would end up being a masterpiece but ultimately ruining the end product.

Adding to that there were a lot of forced and unnecessary symbolisms throughout and the focus and screen time was way too much on 2-3 characters and the rest of them were too underdeveloped/improperly developed to fully justify the ending.

Anirban Bhattacharya is going to be one of the best director of India, he prove himself in his first web series.

He made the difference in Bangla web series.

Its a milestone, screenpaly, cinematography, acting, music all at its highest... It shows that Each and every crew gave their 100% in this Great Work by Anirban Bhattacharya.

We should join hands with this work and appreciate such different genres of scripts.. We are responsible for the content we get.. Well our bengali culture has the greatness of intellectuals, all we need is to appreciate differences that are good and abandon the bad.. This series could be the era to hasten the writing function and once the revolution starts we could rule this industry.. Good greets #hoichoi. @hoichoi for such content.. Wanna see from u more 🔥

Not worth a watch. Don't waste your time watching this.pathetic series. Hyped one, but not good at all. People should avoid it.complete waste of time.

If you have ample of time to waste then watch. If you like to read novel then read the original novel story but don't waste time to watch it. I never watched a worst series like this total time waste.