India, July 28 -- In a country where sex-related crimes and sexual repression are at an all-time high, one would expect that a show like Rangeen, now available to watch on Prime Video, would treat the subject of male sex work with some amount of sensitivity and respect. Unfortunately, keeping that expectation put me on the wrong track to begin with, because Rangeen does not know whether to empathise with its protagonist or laugh at him, so as a case study, it attempts both at one go and ends up doing neither.

Rangeen begins with Adarsh (Viineet Kumar Siingh), who runs a local newspaper. He is too busy trying to make ends meet and make sure that things are in place at work to even notice how lonely his wife, Naina (Rajshri Deshpande), fee...