This anthology consisting of 6 short films is the best ensemble of actors and artists that you’ll ever come across. Might not be the best anthologies out there, but it is filled with a delightful charm of its own.

Based on the stories that featured in New York Times, Amazon Prime Video brings to you six modern love stories all based in Mumbai. Each story is helmed by a different set of talent and directors. Ranging from a typical husband-wife story, a story based in Mumbai’s infamous Chinatown to a LGBTQ story, the range goes out in all directions. And more than everything, what this anthology essentially captures is the spirit of Mumbai. The hustle, the travel, the life in this metro and of course, the so many stories that everyone’s life in itself is.

The first film is ‘Raat Rani’ which is directed by Shonali Bose who has previously directed the acclaimed ‘The Sky Is Pink’. Starring Fatima Sana Shaikh in the lead, it is the story of self-realization and self-love. Ditched by her husband, this women from Kashmir who works as a house-help to a classy SoBo family, is now all doomed until she figures that life is so more beautiful and that you need no one else’s love if you have your own. The best part about the film is Fatima Sana Shaikh’s performance. It is unmissable and beyond par. The way she is delivering the dialogues with the Kashmiri accent is just unbelievable.

The second short is ‘Baai’ directed by Hansal Mehta, the director of the hit web-series ‘Scam 1992’ and films like Shahid, City lights, Aligarh, Omerta and Chhalaang starring the Scam 1992 boy, Pratik Gandhi and MasterChef Ranveer Brar who also plays a chef in this film. It is a LGBTQ story wherein this gay couple faces a tough time coming out to families and getting married. The story is sweet and simple. However, this one is mostly set in Goa, and has a lot of needless elements. For instance, the Hindu Muslim riots of the 80s Mumbai are brought in with no purpose. This also isn’t Pratik Gandhi’s best acting work. He has done better. And Ranveer Brar should best stick to cooking ONLY.

The third and also my favourite amongst all is ‘Mumbai Dragon’. Mumbai has a very infamous Chinatown in Mazgaon, Dockyard Road which was established in 1919 and thrived most in 1950s and 1960s until the Indo-Sino war broke out in 1962. However, a few Chinese families (roughly around 400) still live in this area of Mumbai. They also maintain a very cute little and the only Chinese temple of the city. This community is fading away eventually and this fact has been very well captured in this film of the anthology. A love story of an Indian-Chinese Mumma’s boy who falls in love with a Gujarati girl and faces rebel from his conservative mother. The best part about this film is Meiyang Chang’s performance and more than this, the performance of Yeo Yann Yann who is a Malaysian actress. It is directed by Vishal Bhardwaj and he does it so well.

The fourth is ‘My Beautiful Wrinkles’ which is directed by Alankrita Srivastava. Alankrita is known for and has only and only made films around female sexuality. While initially this attempt and her embarking in this genre was much needed and appreciated, now I feel that she is trapped in this universe of hers and cannot think of anything beyond her comfort zone and set topics. The minute you hear Alankrita’s name, it has to be sexuality!

The fifth film, ‘I Love Thane’, written and directed by Dhruv Sehgal, is a sweet story of hip landscape designer and a guy who has lived all his life in Thane. Dhruv Sehgal goes in the Little Thing zone yet again by over intellectualizing conversations. What is great in this bit is the acting. Masaba should have chosen acting as a career earlier in life. Ritwik Bhowmik, the Bandish Bandit guy is too good as the simple, Thane lad.

The last short, ‘Cutting Chai’ starring Arshad Warsi and Chitrangada Singh is a story of a husband-wife relationship and how the wife, who is an author is fed-up with her husband’s irritating habit of being late and overall irresponsibility. This story portrays the everyday husband-wife relationship hurdles and ends on a happy note. Nupur Asthana the director, has very nicely directed this. She has previously directed another short in a Prime Video anthology, ‘Unpaused: Naya Safar’.

On the whole, Modern Love- Mumbai is a great light hearted, slice of life watch for all those who are done with the dark content on OTT. Also, if you are a sucker for the romance genre, happy endings, etc., this one’s for you. Special shoutout to the title sequence which is made very sweetly with pictures and videos of real-life couples. To add cherry on the pie, the title track ‘Mausam Hai Pyaar’ composed by Nikhil D’Souza is the cutest song of recent time you’ll come across and it is addictive! Do lookout. Modern Love- Mumbai is an Amazon Original Series streaming on Prime Video.

You can watch the trailer here: