The Interns – Web Series Episode 1&2 Review & rating – 8.5/10

Estimated read time 10 min read
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About The Interns Web Series

Understanding the Core: The lives of three interns and the melodramas and prejudices that surround them.

Girliyapa never fails to impress their audience, and this time they did a splendid job creating this series. One could see that the amazing team behind The interns poured their soul into it and was attentive to even the minor details orbiting around it. The Director Anant Singh, also known as ‘Bhaatu’, captures the emotion perfectly and makes sure the viewers’ eyes are glued to the screen from the start. The angles and the frames are creatively executed. 

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The story revolves around three very different personalities who work as interns under an entertainment company, Digital Diva. The script is highly entertaining and relatable with a lot of dramatic dialogues and humorous additions. The character design is done in such a way that the viewers can easily relate to them. Additionally, the executive producers Anandeshwar Dwivedi and Arun Kumar made sure the whole project is of top-tier quality which I assure you it is. 

The Interns Episode 1 – Every Girl Ever

Credits:

  • Written by: Chirag Ratna Singh, Khushbu Baid, Shreyasi Sharma, Anant Singh ‘Bhaatu’
  • Directed by: Anant Singh ‘Bhaatu’
  • Executive Producers: Anandeshwar Dwivedi & Arun Kumar
  • Creative Producer: Prerna Sharma 
  • Supervising Producer: Shivani Sinha 
  • DOP: Shreedutta Namjoshi
  • Editor: Arunava Chaudhuri
  • Music: Vaibhav Bundhoo
  • Production Designer: Abhimanyu Jai
  • Costume Designer: Neha Verma
  • Sound Design: Pranit Purao
  • Colorist: Sanjay Gharat
  • Cast: Ahsaas Channa, Revathi Pillai, Rashmi Agdekar & Khushbu Baid

The camera work during the long opening shot where one of the protagonists, Ana, was introduced is very impressive and made me anticipate the storyline of this Girliyapa series. The opening soundtrack and title card only made me more attentive towards the short film. 

Ana is a cut-throat content writer filled with ideas that no one seems to heed attention to. She has powerful principles and never backs down from a challenge. Viveka, who works alongside Ana, never seems to gain any recognition from the CEO as she is called by any name that starts with ‘V’ except hers and has family problems on her own. Originally from Kanpur, now she is staying with her old-fashioned aunt Taiji in Mumbai, who always keeps track of Viveka’s whereabouts and treats her like a slave. The last protagonist Lilly, aka “silly_lilly”, is effortlessly talented and her good looks and humorously dramatic personality only adds to my love for her character. I yearn for her social skills as she seems to be loved by everyone she talks to. Her male chauvinist boyfriend influences a great deal of her life and plays a vital role in her character development towards the end.

The plot begins in a conference meeting where Ana’s ideas are brushed off and undermined by CEO Sugandha, and Viveka is trampled upon for leaving the office early due to her aunt’s nagging. Lilly, being the happy-go-lucky girl, missed the meeting because her boyfriend, Dheer, disregarded her work and dragged her to the beach. Viveka’s aunt monopolizes her life with a lot of restrictions. She complains non-stop to her father about how improper Viveka is. Viveka’s father is supportive but is scared to take a stand against her misogynist Aunt and lies that Viveka is working in a corporate company. Lilly is asked to make a video but she procrastinates as she believed “inspiration comes to those who wait and do nothing”. I relate to her a lot on this point.

Ana meets with Sugandha and pitches her idea on making a video about menstrual hygiene. Still, as usual, she is insulted and dismissed. Regardless Ana goes ahead with her vision, lying that Sugandha wanted the video made immediately to her co-intern Viveka. When Ana, Sugandha, and Lilly are lounging, Dheer drops by without any prior notice and declares that Lilly has to leave work with him as if she has no say in it. This shows how little respect he has for Lilly’s job. Lilly brushes off his rudeness even though she is seen as uncomfortable in the frame. As Viveka reminds Lilly that she still hasn’t made her video, Lilly rushes off with Viveka to her with the camera work. Lilly improvises, saying that “a great actor does not need a script”, which I’m not sure if I agree with. She goes on to create a character named Vidhisa Kumari based on Viveka’s life and her aunt’s atrocities. When Ana presents her video on menstrual hygiene, Sugandha seems to hate it at first glance and criticizes Ana’s visuals. However, she wants to proceed with the idea and edit the video within the night. Ana asks for Viveka’s help and she complies, ignoring her aunt’s order to buy the necessities for the pooja. 

This episode shows how society dismisses and neglects a working woman and how unsupportive her environment is towards their goals and dreams.

The Interns Web Series Episode 2 – When a ____ dates a ____

Once again, the Director impressed me with the opening frame. The Interns Web Series episode starts with Sugandha screaming her head off because of the undeniable fact that Ana’s video is a flop. The commenters seem to hate Ana’s looks, directing, editing, concept, and almost everything about her video. Sugandha meets Lilly for the first time ever, even though she has been a month-long intern. The CEO compliments Lilly on her trending Vidhisa Kumari video whilst hilariously bashing Ana and Viveka. As they all converse, the next idea is born, and Sugantha orders the three peculiars to work together on the concept ‘Vidhisa Kumari dating superheroes’. 

As the work progresses, the three musketeers begin to bond while facing many issues during the planning. Ana presents the final idea with confidence and the CEO, impressed by the work, compliments her that Ana has found her voice. Lilly finally sets boundaries between her work life and her personal life and ignores Dheer when he calls during the meetings. Later, when Lilly calls to apologize that she must shoot on their anniversary, Dheer blames Lilly for being very selfish and asking her to choose between him and her career. Ana meets Director Dhristi, who insults and makes fun of her menstrual hygiene video. Viveka’s aunt finds that Digital Diva is an entertainment company, but her father covers for her. Tilji later goes berserk on Viveka and gives her a literal warning card, just like in football. A bit too dramatic if you ask me. After the shoot goes successfully, Lilly surprises Dheer with a romantic dinner in the filming set. During the date, she declares that both her career and Dheer are important for her, and she doesn’t have to choose between them. Dheer reacts poorly, saying that he always stays on top and only he gets to be the important thing in her life, and storms off, leaving behind a very conflicted Lilly. In the end, the three interns pretend to get drunk on Pepsi and sharing their sorrows. Ana thanks Lilly for teaching her that one does not always have to choose but invent a third way to power through it just like she did with the date.

This episode shows how society constantly expects a woman to choose between her family and her career. They either expect her to be a lonely woman with no love life or a homemaker. It is sad that they refuse to believe the fact that she is always more than that.

The Interns Web Series Appreciations and Criticisms

The script and the clean execution never cease to awe me. There are so many elements, which meant more than what it seemed. The cast expressed the emotions next to stark perfection. They never seem to over-act or under-act. Moreover, the actors connected with their characters so well that the audience could tell what the character was thinking before saying it out loud. Although the actor who played Director Dhristi did a questionable job.

The soundtrack and background effects made this whole ordeal seem like a movie rather than a short film. It also reflects the moods of the setting. The music towards the end when Ana and Viveka work on the video editing raised my mood and made me understand that the small fight against the taboos they’re fighting is still meaningful. One thing I noticed and was awestruck is that even the costumes help me read their personalities. Viveka’s short Kurtis, bindis, and shawls represent how she is still under the supervision of her family even though she’s a grown woman with a job. Ana’s tank tops, shirt jackets, jean shorts, and her signature bun shows her no-bullshit solid personality. Lilly’s flowery blouses and pleasant colored tops remind us how carefree and bubbly her personality is.

Now let us move towards technical criticisms. The cinematography and focus are perfect. I could not find a single angle or frame that is of lesser quality or poor accomplishment. The colorist played a considerable part in this too. The colors in every location complemented each other and were eye-pleasing. None of the shots lacked lighting.

The makeup artist made the actors seem like relatable real-life characters rather than unreal beauty goddesses. Looking at the dubbing, it confuses me when I try to figure if it is a dubbing or a live recording. The voices and the lip movements synchronize without any time lag.

Both the episodes of The interns made me wonder how tough it is to be a woman and face all the criticisms from your family, your co-worker, and the misogynistic society. Regardless of all these hindrances that still choose to fight for themselves rather than playing along with it. In various scenes, the talk of periods is always brought up. I thought it was excessive product placement but I can’t deny how large amounts of people believe that the menstrual cycle and the public talks about it are still taboo.

The The Interns Web Series team concludes that we as a society should evolve, and women do not need any help in running their own life.

  1. Direction – I want to give away 8.5/10
  2. Script – I want to give away 8.5/10
  3. Screenplay – I want to give away 8/10
  4. Editing – I want to give away 9/10
  5. Cinematography – I want to give away 8/10
  6. Lighting – I want to give away 8/10
  7. Music – I want to give away 9/10
  8. Sound effects – I want to give away 10/10
  9. Dubbing – I want to give away 9/10 
  10. Artists acting – I want to give away 9/10
  11. Creativity and Innovation – I want to give away 8.5/10

My overall rating for The Interns Web Series is 8.5/10

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