EKAM : What are we, but stories? Series review
Ekam: One and the Multitude is a Kannada anthology series created by Sumanth Bhat and Sandeep P.S., co-produced by Rakshit Shetty’s Paramvah Studio.
“A lack of interest from OTTs in Ekam due to it being in the anthology format and because it was in Kannada”, the creators decided to launch their much-anticipated project on their own website after being rejected by major platforms.
https://www.ekamtheseries.com/
It may be the Black Mirror of Karnataka where technology is not the core but the Karavali region. Set in earlier times each episode of Ekam has its own story, and there’s no constant theme tying them together. If you’re bored with the same mainstream garbage and need a refresh, this is for you.
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It’s the direction that gives life to the stories because they are rather too basic and demand patience with absurdism, satire, love, and possession. It is slow-paced and requires viewers' attention to make sense of the story, all the details are in the episode and that’s all you need to draw the conclusion. The slow burn works in some places to show the characters’ frustration but seems a bit too stretched in others. Also, including Raj B Shetty and Prakash Raj in the cast was a smart choice.
“We concluded that the curation of season 1 will be driven by the idea of the life cycle of a human being.”
With each season we’ll be introduced to a collection of new stories in a new dialect, “As the vastness of India offers a limitless possibility of storytelling, the possibility of Ekam having a multi-season run also seems limitless.”
Personal opinion: I was looking forward to this series, yes I was a little disappointed. The stories could be much better and I’m definitely hoping for more in the future because so much can be done with the project.
The start was a weak romcom, “Haaraata” (Flight) but the weakest episode for me was “Bhranti” (Delusion). Surprisingly because of that episode, they decided to make Ekam a whole series. My personal favourite was “Shoonya” (Void) since relating to Guruva made sense. I wouldn’t recommend binge-watching Ekam because of its pace, watch it with your own time and give it the chance it deserves.
The series is available for ₹149, with additional bonus content that includes the scripts for all episodes and behind-the-scenes of Ekam, Children of Cinema.
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
