Kaun Banegi Shikharwati

Kaun Banegi Shikharwati is an Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama original web series streaming on ZEE5. It is written and directed by Gauravv Chawla and Ananya Banerjee. The series has been produced by Applause Entertainment & Emmay Entertainment. This ten-episode web series was released on 7 January 2022. It stars Naseeruddin Shah, Raghubir Yadav, Lara Dutta, Soha Ali Khan, Kritika Kamra and Anya Singh in the lead roles.

Plot
It is the story of Raja Mrityunjay Singh Shikharwat, who is broke and owes the Indian government a hefty amount of in unpaid property taxes. To come out of this scenario, he fakes sickness and summons his four estranged daughters, Devyani, Gayatri, Kamini, and Uma. He plans to hold a nine-rounds tournament amongst them, each with a job for the princesses to complete. At the end of this tournament, the winner will be crowned Queen.

Cast

 * Naseeruddin Shah as Raja Mrityunjay Singh Shikharwat
 * Raghubir Yadav as Mishraji
 * Lara Dutta as Devyani Shikharwat Goel
 * Soha Ali Khan as Gayatri Shikharwat
 * Kritika Kamra as Kamini Shikharwat
 * Anya Singh as Uma Shikharwat
 * Cyrus Sahukar as Harsh Goel
 * Varun Thakur as Roop Singh
 * Anurag Sinha as Veer Singh
 * Norshang Tamang as Dhanur
 * Alisha as Padma
 * Dino Morea as Rudro
 * Sahil Salathia

Release
ZEE5 announced the launch of a trailer on 23 December 2021 and the series was released on 7 January 2022.

Critical reviews
Archika Khurana of The Times of India has given 3.5/5 stars stating that the series is a fun, breezy take on a dysfunctional royal family. Due to its simple writing and weird characters, it is a fine blend of humour and drama. Do not be fooled by the tracksuit and games; the series is not as gory as ‘Squid Game’, but it is a light-hearted dramedy that will bring a smile to your face.

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV has given 2.5/5 stars stating that the series is a patchy dramedy. It is a mildly diverting, inoffensive parody of the repercussions of power wielded without responsibility. It does not scale any peak, but it is entertaining enough not to sink into a low work that it cannot find its way out of with a little bit of help from the actors.

Shubham Kulkarni of Koimoi has given 2/5 stars stating that the series is a dramedy about a dysfunctional family that falls prey to repetitiveness and confused tonality. The actor Naseeruddin Shah is prolific, but the character becomes repetitive. All the other actors have made justice to their respective roles. The web series like this with more evolved humour deserved depth too. The bar for dramedies about families raised four decades ago by some prolific filmmakers will struggle to live up to them.