Slightly late to the party, but I finally watched Farzi.
But if you’re like me, and liked Farzi, here are 5 films / series you can watch along the social themes of survival, and virtues and values where greed or pride leads to downfall.
Good girls
The show starring Christina Hendricks, Retta, and Mae Whitman is a witty and irreverent drama that explores the theme of female empowerment in the face of adversity. Three suburban moms decide to rob a local supermarket to take car e of their families’ financial needs.
What starts as a necessity soon becomes a hobby with these unsuspecting moms discovering their knack for this life of crime, gang heists, debts, secrets and more.
You know how Farzi takes us through the process of making counterfeit money, from finding the right quality of paper, to creating the perfect color ink. You’ll witness the same process but through the resources available to a suburban mom; hint – nail polish – kaafi ghareloo nuskhe
Watch these Good Girls being completely badass on Netflix.
Queen Pins
You’ve heard of counterfeiting money, but have you heard about counterfeiting coupons?
Loosely based on a true story, Queenpins follows the lives of Connie Kaminski (played by Kristen Bell), wh is a former Olympic medallist suffering from an existential crisis, financial debt and a failing marriage and her friend, JoJo Johnson (played by Kirby Howell-Baptiste), an unemployed makeup artist and wannabe social media influencer.
Both tired of being in a rut and struggling to make ends meet, they chance upon an idea to “win” coupons from companies, which soon turns into a multi-million dollar counterfeit coupon scheme.
Connie and JoJo take couponing to a whole new level, forging and selling on an industrial scale, and making millions in the process, before their luck runs out.
This light-hearted comedy thriller of survival makes Queenpins an entertaining watch. What’s quite interesting is how determined the authorities and loss prevention officers are to stop this pink-collar crime.
Queenpins in streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Molly’s Game
Another film about a former Olympian duping the system is Molly’s Game with Jessica Chastain in the titular role.
Based on the true story of a world-class skier, the film tracks Molly Bloom after the unfortunate end of the Olympic career due to an injury.
Instead of getting a degree, Molly takes on odd jobs till she stumbles upon the opportunity to work at an underground poker business played by the most famous and wealthy individuals.
This is where Molly’ Game becomes a game of tact and survival – Like our boy Sunny in Farzi, Molly quickly learns the ropes and establishes a business to successfully run an underground celebrity poker club. As the business grows, so do the stakes.
You can watch this story of ambition, risk and redemption on Netflix.
21 Blackjack
That leads me to another film with gambling as a backdrop – 2008’s film called 21.
This too is inspired by real events and people following the journey of six MIT students who are trained by their university professor to become experts in card counting in Blackjack and are flown to Vegas every week to make millions at the casinos.
They manage to trick players every night using strategic mathematical skills and advanced card-counting techniques, to cash in the big bucks… till they get too big for their shoes. As the stakes get higher, the casinos become more suspicious, and the team begins to navigate dangerous waters to keep their winning streak alive.
Shuffle through Netflix to watch this intellectually thrilling heist drama. If you’re not great with numbers like me, you might have to pause it a few times and figure their strategy at the table.
Fakes
Going back to the subject of counterfeiting, but with a lighter theme is the series called Fakes.
You want to take a guess?
Well, I’ll tell you anyway. Fakes is also inspired by a semi-true story of two teens who “accidentally” build one of the largest fake ID empires in North America, before a whole lot of shit goes down and they eventually get busted by the cops.
Unlike any of the other films in the list, the USB of this series is its narration. Each episode is told from the respective teenager’s point of view, often breaking the fourth wall. While one character is a neurotic brainiac named Zoe (played by Emilija Baranac), the other is an obnoxious, rich spoilt brat named Rebecca.
So, you have sort off keep track of each version of the story and connect the dots to solve the case.
Although it’s based on a true story, the cheeky treatment makes Fakes a fun watch, streaming on Netflix.
By the way, did you notice that all the stories have characters go from rags to riches… to rags !
