‘Hundred’ Review: Lara Dutta aka ACP Saumya's and Rinku Rajguru aka Nethra's debut show on Disney+Hotstar is full of thrill, one adventure at a time

By Gurpreet Kaur

on April 25, 2020

Cast: Lara Dutta, Rinku Rajguru, Karan Wahi

Director: Ruchi Narain, Ashutosh Shah, Taher Shabbir, Abhishek Dubey

OTT: Disney+Hotstar

What if you suddenly get to know that you are terminally ill and you just have a hundred days to live? You have then two options, to either curse your fate and cry over your plight or to make the most of you last few days. Disney+ Hotstar VIP’s latest eight-episode series Hundred, which is already streaming on the OTT platform, revolves around the same theme. And guess what? It involves two women who meet each other in the most unusual circumstances.

The first is Nethra ( Marathi star Rinku Rajguru), who has recently learnt that she is suffering from brain tumour and just have hundred days to live. Although she mourns her condition for a few minutes, she braves it all and rather makes a bucket list. The honest civil servant not only dreams of going to Switzerland one day but also is desperate to lose her virginity and party hard before she has no time left. But amidst all this, her father, grandfather and younger brother leech off her and she has a feckless boyfriend Aniket Naik (Suyash Zunjurke) to deal with as well. What finally rings a bell in her ears is when Netra is compared to a ‘Kadi Patta’ (curry leaf), which adds flavour to everything but is of little use by itself. So she decides to finally change things and live for herself.

Then there is ACP Saumya (former Miss Universe and actress returning to screen after hatius -Lara Dutta). Despite her strong position as a police officer, she faces sexism at work by her boss, DCP Anshuman (Parmeet Sethi), who prefers to have her attend Women’s Day special functions instead of focusing on more important things. Although she has her smooth husband Pravin Tambe (Sudhanshu Pandey), the head of the anti-narcotics wing of the Mumbai police, she has a much younger boyfriend the aspiring rapper Maddy (Karan Wahi) in tow as well. Albeit, at workplace, she is just labelled as "the department's item girl" and hence, she is desperate for glory.

The two then meet on the day of Nethra realises his illness and the terminally ill girl looking for thrills is hired to be an undercover agent by an ambitious female cop looking for a promotion. What follows is how they get together to to accomplish their own goal in 100 days. Each episode of the show ends on a cliffhanger and moves at a comfortable pace. It would not be wrong to say that you would want to see all the episodes as the show makes for an interesting watch despite the climax being a tad bit abrupt. There is action, humour and adventures. To say the least, we love it all. In fact, the camaraderie between Nethra, who has nothing to lose, and Saumya, who has everything to gain, is certainly to vouch for.

Coming to the characters, they are very well etched, be it Nethra wanting to live her life to the fullest or Saumya striving hard to be recognised despite facing tough times at work. Lara makes an impressive digital show debut and her fierce character is lovable. Sairat fame Rinku too works wonderfully in the digital space and her body language, her carefree attitude makes her a delight to watch. Karan aces the Haryanvi dialect and he keeps you hooked. Other characters like Sudhanshu Pandey, Parmeet Sethi, Makarand Deshpande and Arun Nalawade too add to the story. Despite all this, the show is like a female buddy comedy, and Nethra and Saumya are like a match made in heaven.

Last but not the least, Hundred, created by Ruchi Narain, Ashutosh Shah, Taher Shabbir, Abhishek Dubey, makes for an entertaining ride, albeit a few bumps, and a lovely watch in this lockdown period.