A web series that captures essence of the city

Angie tells the story of a titular character who struggles with navigating life in the city as a theatre artiste and captures a particular moment in time

Falah Faisal | NT

Bengaluru: For those who have grown up in the city, Bengaluru is criminally underrepresented in the world of fiction outside of Kannada cinema.

Or at least it hasn’t been romanticised in the same way as Mumbai and Delhi have in movies or series. But that is about to change with Angie, a 5 episode web series that is a collaboration between Lights off Productions and 21 Grams Collective.

Written by Raghav Bhotika and directed by Siddhant KS, the series stars Noella Ferrao as Angie who works as a production manager for a local theater troupe. Shot inde pendently around 2015-16 and featuring cameos from many soon to be famous people like Naveen Richardand Sumukhi Suresh, the series was finally screened after nearly 8 years in post-production at Alliance Francaise last evening.

Shot in stark black and white, homage to Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha the series is light and breezy and captures the essence of interactions young people have when they are infatuated by someone new.

Unlike most series where the protagonist takes centre stage, Angie allows her friends to shine with Manraj as Rishi, an immigrant to the city who is trying to make ends meet, and Shraddhaa Shetty as Shikha, her best friend who navigates her own hardships, are delightful to watch.

The screening at times feels like a surreal experience since many of the scenes are filmed in the space the series was being shown that makes you aware of what goes on behind the scenes of productions and gives you a glimpse of backstage life. Presented in bite sized 15 minute episodes, by the end you are left wanting more and many of the characters feel like your friends whose lives you feel deeply involved in.

And unlike many big budget series that come out on Netflix and Prime that feels like they are well crafted ads, the amateur awkwardness of Angie feels refreshing with the aesthetic that feels perfect for YouTube and is a throwback to the times before big brands took over the user generated content platform.

Speaking at the screening, Siddhanth described the process of collaboration. “Raghav wrote the series and I directed it. After which he took on editing duties and worked with Nishant and came back with a 45 minute cut that blew me away.

Despite it being in the can for so long, we finally felt it was time to put it out there,” he said. Angie releases on YouTube at midnight on December 25 and is a bingeable watch that should not be missed