The Fame Game (2022) summary and ending explained

‘The Fame Game’ revolves around the disappearance of fictional actress Anamika Anand, and the secrets of her seemingly perfect life that come to light as a result of it. The thriller drama is now streaming on Netflix.

Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers

Summary

Anamika Anand (Madhuri Dixit), a massively popular actress in the country now considered a veteran, has suddenly gone missing. Shobha Tiwari (Rajshri Deshpande), is put in charge of the case.

From the start, it’s clear that a lot happened between Anamika and her family in the months leading up to the disappearance. To ensure the success of their next film Anamika convinced her producer husband Nikhil More (Sanjay Kapoor) to sign Manish Khanna (Manav Kaul).

Anamika and Manish had last starred together 20 years ago, and had been in a relationship. However, Manish continued living with his then-wife and Anamika married Nikhil.

As the show progresses, many important details from the months leading up to the disappearance of Anamika are revealed.

Nobody let Anamika make her own decision. Nikhil’s bad investments and Anamika’s mother’s (Suhasini Mulay) gambling habits had resulted in the loss of all money that Anamika had earned. Even their house was on the mortgage.

Her son, Avinash (Lakshvir Saran), is a homosexual man but struggles to accept this as he believes he needs to protect his image as a star kid.

Amara (Muskkaan Jaferi), her daughter, wants to be an actress herself because she wants the nation to love her like they love her mother. Sensing this, Anamika is apprehensive about whether she can do it.

Nikhil always felt that Anamika has been distant to him for the entirety of their marriage, and frequently physically abused her as a way to vent out his anger.

Anamika also met a young boy named Madhav (Gagan Arora), an orphan who believes that he is the child of Anamika and Manish. He keeps stalking her and left her scared when he entered her vanity claiming to be her long lost son.

Amara and Madhav begin a relationship after he meets her and supports her during the investigation of her mother, but she is unaware of who he really is. He steals Anamika’s comb for a DNA test, but it comes out negative, shattering his illusion.

During the course of the shooting, Anamika and Manish get close again, and it is revealed that he is bipolar, which is why he opted against pursuing his relationship with Anamika two decades ago.

When Nikhil found out that Avinash is gay, he assaulted him, nearly killing him. Only Anamika’s intervention with a gun was enough to stop him, leaving the bullet hole in the house that Shobha had found.

When Anamika told her mother and Nikhil that she is done living her life according to their instructions, her mother revealed that Avinash, not Madhav, is actually Manish Kapoor’s son. For dismissing her mother’s suggestion of abortion, she had gotten her married to her relative, Nikhil.

If you have any doubts from the ending, here’s a full breakdown.

The Fame Game ending explained in detail: (Episode 8)

Repercussions

After the events where Nikhil tried to kill Avinash, the whole family equation has been complicated. Anamika refuses to talk to Nikhil, while her son has kept his distance from him as well.

Manish urges Anamika to leave Nikhil now, allowing them to rekindle their relationship from 20 years ago completely, but she tells him that her life is messed up at the moment.

When Manish attempts to convince her with an aggressive tone, she tells him off. She has had enough of everybody ordering her around. Hurt by her unwillingness at the moment, he tells them to never come back to him.

In the present day, he feels extremely guilty for her disappearance, blaming himself for her fate and fearing the worst.

Depressed, he claims that Anamika died ‘because of him’, and subsequently drowns himself in his swimming pool. People consider his confession to be an acceptance of him killing her and committing suicide because of it.

The police are forced to release Nikhil as Manish is considered the culprit now. He returns to his family, seemingly with the intention to become a changed man.

Meanwhile, Shobha deciphers that the action moves Anamika used to attack her supposed pursuer, as narrated to her by an eyewitness, were the exact same as one of her movies.

Who kidnapped Anamika Anand?

In a twist, it is revealed that Anamika staged her own kidnapping. She did this to ensure that she would remain relevant, as such an event would lead to widespread concern for her and she would be the headline of every news section.

Shobha explains that the actress had left the house on her own that night, which is why there was no sign of breaking in. She was also the one who shut down all the surveillance cameras in the house.

In order to expose her husband, she had left jewels, which suggested that he assaulted her, forcing his arrest. The disappearance also resulted in unprecedented hype for her final film with Manish Khanna, securing the financial future of her and her family.

To put her plan in motion, she had hired a painter that she came across, who needed money, to keep her in a house and go along with whatever she instructed him to do.

This whole facade wouldn’t have been possible if she hadn’t been fed information according to exactly what was going on during the investigation. Her accomplice was Amara all along.

Amara’s ambition

When the mother and daughter finally meet, Amara reprimands her mother for framing their father, but she replies that all she wanted was to scare him and not get a prison sentence.

Anamika reveals that she plans to pin it all on her obsessive stalker instead. When Amara comes to know that she is talking about Madhav, she tells her mother that there must be a mistake and that he is a good person.

Shocked that her daughter had begun a relationship with her stalker, she slaps Amara and tells her she’s a child who doesn’t know anything.

Distraught, Amara locks her and tells the painter that he’ll get his money if he doesn’t let her out. Anamika screams that she did all of this for Amara.

In a flashback, Anamika gives Amara seven ‘rules’ on how to be a successful actress; To make a grand entry, personally connect with fans, stay connected with the younger generation, show the world that you’re emotional and vulnerable, never show your true feelings, any performance can be your last, so make it memorable and finally, never let anybody come in between you and your ambition.

During the course of the season, Amara had been following her mother’s rules to become a successful actress, leading to this point.

During an event, Nikhil announces that he plans to remake one of Anamika’s old films as an ode to her, and has cast Amara as the lead.

In the end, the crowd cheers the announcement of their favourite star’s daughter making her debut, while Anamika is hinted to have escaped.


Also Read: The Fame Game review: Intriguing but inconsistent

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