By Joginder Tuteja

A week since it was unveiled, High has been winning accolades from all over. Exposing the drug mafia at the grass-root level, this debut effort of director Nikhil Rao is yet another superb web series that is currently playing on the OTT medium. Considering the fact that the drug racket has been making headlines already, especially in Mumbai, the timing of High couldn’t have been better.

Says a prominent filmmaker, “High is easily one of the best web series that is streaming currently. It is original, it is stylish and it has a lot of substance.”

“Of course I am not talking about the substance that you see in the series but the content that one is hungry for these days,” he chuckles, “So many times we keep hearing that the industry is churning out just usual stuff. Well, look at High, it is exciting, exhilarating and of course so much entertaining.”

Playing on MX Player, High is spearheaded by Akshay Oberoi who is having a time of his life in the world of web series.

“Illegal, Flesh and now High, he is indeed on a high,” comments a trade expert, “Good talent will eventually find a way. He may not have seen his films doing wonders at the box office but with OTT, there has been resurgence in his career. He is playing so many roles and that too so differently.”

Same can well be said about Ranvir Shorey, who could well be setting a record of seeing one release every month on different OTT channels.

“He has been around for around 20 years but the kind of recognition that he is getting now is what you strive for,” an insider opines, “In High, he is playing this cold blooded assassin who could turn either ways. It’s this unpredictability element that is the highlight of the character that he is playing. There are so many actors in High but the ones who are remembered most by the audiences are Akshay Oberoi and Ranvir Shorey.”

While that’s true to a good extent, one can’t discount the effort of others who impress right through the 9 episodes of High. Be it Shweta Basu Prasad, Mrinmayee Godbole, Kunal Naik and Mantra or Madhur Mittal, Nakul Bhalla and Prakash Belawadi, each one of them has a definite part to play in High.

With the series closing on a cliffhanger with Akshay Oberoi and Ranvir Shorey locked up in a warehouse amidst the sound of a gunshot, one now waits to see what really happens next once the second season arrives in 2021.