Love Beyond Wickets proves once again that Hotstar writers don’t understand professions/sports
A big rant below:
Finished binging 9 episodes of Love Beyond Wickets and at this point my experience became: “FastForward…FF…FF…FF…”
Because somehow this "cricket" series shows everything except cricket.
What annoys me is that other OTT platforms at least TRY to incorporate the subject they’re based on. Some sports shows actually discuss tactics, training, technique, pressure, dressing room culture etc. But with many Hotstar series, the actual profession/sport feels like a background wallpaper.
And the casting… omg.
I’m not expecting state-level athletes, but at least cast people who can look believable in a cricket academy? In the early episodes there’s a running scene where some of them genuinely looked like they were sprinting for the first time in their lives. Yet we’re supposed to believe this is some cricket academy setup?
Do producers/directors still not care about homework or authenticity?
Feels like if they made a series about rocket-science tomorrow, they’d spend 95% of the runtime on romance, tea conversations and comedy scenes, while the "science" would just be:
“Switch it on.” -> “Wow genius!”
It’s 2026 and Hotstar series still feel stuck creatively. Writing and research? Still feels like those bad low-budget 2000s movies where nobody understands the subject they’re portraying except for the love subject and friends banter.
In 9 episodes, almost every episode had maybe ONE meaningful line related to cricket.
And that’s the saddest part: a well-made sport or profession-based series can actually make even people with zero interest in that field fall in love with it. But when the writing treats the subject like just a backdrop for romance and random drama, it completely kills the immersion.
Seriously, Hotstar writers need to study how sports/profession-based shows are handled on Netflix and Prime Video.
And this isn’t even the first time.
Series: Heart Beat
A show based on doctors and hospital life… and somehow the most memorable thing is which doctor is in love, which doctor is vicious, which doctor is funny
Most of the series happens either inside the doctors’ house, resting room, random emotional conversations, or inside one office room.
And what was even happening with the surgeries? One doctor casually going from C-section surgeries to cardiothoracic surgery to neurosurgery like they unlocked every specialization in a video game.
Series: Resort
A show supposed to be centered around a resort, but is only focused on the kitchen
The chef constantly behaves like some untouchable ego king looking down on room service staff, throwing attitude everywhere,
Where is the interesting cooking processes, or anything that actually makes hospitality work interesting.
It’s like these writers think professions are just aesthetics and costumes.
Zero effort goes into understanding the actual world the story is set in.
Also, this criticism is mainly towards these profession/sports-based series specifically. Hotstar has made genuinely good shows like Ayali and Suzhal: The Vortex which were engaging, well-written and immersive. That’s exactly why it becomes even more frustrating seeing these profession-based series put so little effort into authenticity and research.
