In the late 1970s, an immigrant from India named Somen Banerjee established a nightclub that was to be the first of its kind. In Los Angeles, he initially tried turning it into a backgammon club, but when that didn’t work out, he sought suggestions on what to do next. Consequently, this turned into a nightclub concentrated on pleasure and eroticism for women with female mud wrestling and exotic dancing provided for them. Then in 1979 he started one of the first male stripper dance troupes in America which is still around today. His dreams consumed him and his death occurred because of his partner’s murder leading him to jail for this reason by running a combination of theater and entertainment into business. Hulu’s latest miniseries Welcome to Chippendales follows Banerjee’s history.
During the last two years, streaming services have increasingly targeted their content towards recent stories about people who cheated the system through true crimes. Inventing Anna was featured on Netflix while The Dropout renewed interest in Elizabeth Holmes—the ill-fated founder of Theranos—on Hulu. In contrast to previous materials being consumed by viewers earlier on, it was like a breath of fresh air at the beginning; however, after Pam & Tommy release as well as Under the Banner of Heaven and Dopesick series are taking over where this formulaic trend is starting up again. Returning to this format is Hulu’s Welcome to Chippendales which tells an old-fashioned story about migrants looking for better life in the United States.
Kumail Nanjiani from Eternals acts as Somen “Steve” Banerjee who is still alive till now considered being one of those founded Chippendales bars worldwide. What might be newsworthy here though is that Murray Bartlett (The Last Of Us) plays Nick de Noia who was Steve’s business partner? Irene’s powerful character has been played convincingly by Annaleigh Ashford making her one of the outstanding members in this incredible cast that she has throughout her performance. Finally, Daniel Stevens from Downton Abbey and Beauty and the Beast is joined by Juliette Lewis from Yellowjackets to complete the rest of the cast. The show’s episodes are eight in number with its release in November 2022 hence Welcome to Chippendales has a lot riding on it especially with genre gain more popularity each day.
At first, Chippendales Welcome appears as a feverish 80s dream with some erotic hints, but it quickly moves towards the realities. The starting point of this series introduces Somen Banerjee who is like numerous South Asian immigrants coming to US at this period having owned a gas station and jeered by his customers on account of his accent. This is not easy life mainly since one rowdy pair ones day pour beer down him while knocking over a keychain stand displaying nothing more than the name “Steve”. As Somen leans to clean up the mess they caused, seemingly defeated by the circumstances of the life he has begun to live, a realization crosses his mind: he will become Steve. In fact, he already holds all business skills necessary for his success in this country whereby his employer appreciates him for having various repeat clients achieved through loyalty card implementation. In an emotional speech about how Somen saved ninety percent of incomes by sacrificing his life to work, he leaves and declares that ever since he arrived in America seven years ago everything has changed in his life including goals. He is reborn and will open again another backgammon club that does not exist yet in Los Angeles. The new club called Destiny II reveals entirely different pages of Somen’s existence.
However, things do not go as planned, and in the first couple of months of the club opening not much happens. With welcome to Chippendales taking on a fictitious tone as reality unfolds itself further into time anew featuring Paul Snider’s entry who later promises Somen that he can make things happen differently within the club environment. They hit upon women mud wrestling right at its center in bikinis which bring them business although it is not what they actually want; stars or guys with high reputation.
That is just only one side of Welcome to Chippendales from a business perspective alone matches perfectly well with how desperate Somen was to succeed in business and become a person who can afford expensive cars and buy designer watches. Chippendales is still existing now, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, it changed its practices to try to help communities exercise as they were locked down. Nowadays, there is a feeling of Banerjee’s absence notably; however, even the show explains how he never remained involved—considering all the Sniders on his side, his falling out by the end of the series shouldn’t be surprising.
However, as this show dives deeper into Somen’s madness to be a bigger man than him self it falls into real crime plot. Allowing himself luxurious life conditions or promotion for him to stay alive are traded off for homicide, covetousness and what others term sin. Ultimately, he paid terribly for that crime and completed his move from being an Indian immigrant called Somen to becoming an angel that fell from grace whose punishment is modelled in prison using Steve as example.
Chippendales is the blessed tale of an immigrant who sought out and obtained the American Dream, albeit in a strange way. One day Somen wakes up and decides that he will quit his stable job where he is even offered promotion, buys a nice suit from a store, then reads business journal. He opens a club when everybody around him thought he was kidding; nevertheless, instead of becoming discouraged when it does fail in the end it motivates him even more to achieve what he wants in life. At the end Banerjee’s story could be tragic, potentially serving as a warning against ruthlessly pursuing dreams of becoming rich at all costs but he made it. He did everything that he intended to do and if there were any blunders on his part it’s because he got pinched–that’s what books never taught him about doing good business.
Nonetheless, there are lots of corny dialogues that come through in the show especially during its first episode. This sets up rhythm and scenario that seem quite familiar at first sight though despite how hard does it try to replicate the era it is based on with its soundtracks, costumes and sets there is something about this effort feels empty. Therefore Banerjee’s story still has so much to tell us about itself as well as a history of the company till date; thus there is much material from which this drama can borrow from. On the other hand it feels hurriedly done with parts being skipped over for dramatic effect. For this reason they become prototypes for archetype descriptions and actions.
We have heard almost everything about Steve – creator of this empire but who was he before coming to America? Why doesn’t anyone surround him? There are many questions one could ask not only about protagonist but also other characters too. For most part they are nothing more than people reacting within their present momentary situation without being fleshed out making them seem flat and monotonous characters. Had the show spent more time on Somen’s background, maybe even making his fall from grace that much worse, it might have connected better. It also lacks a little suspense to carry episodes from one to other, as the next steps are obvious due to some foreshadowing especially when one watches these types of shows often.
However, this series has some good content. The cast does well in their roles although the scripts and pacing lets them down. Kumail Nanjiani who was outstanding in Eternals or Big Sick played an amazing part of Somen who is kind of weirdo and not smooth talking business guy, which later turns into jealousy of he and stuffs like that. At large “Welcome to Chippendales” promises much with its premise but falls short of such goals.
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