WELCOME TO CHIPPENDALES
Robert Siegel’s biopic of the man behind the Chippendales tells the gripping – and at times scarcely believable – story of Somen “Steve” Banerjee, a mild-mannered teetotal Indian immigrant to California, who became the unlikely founder of the male-stripper empire in 1975. Kumail Nanjiani is instantly sympathetic as Banerjee, a put-upon but ambitious petrol station manager who, after several false starts as a business owner, has a lightbulb moment in a gay club when he realises that male strippers might go down a storm with women, too. Banerjee is too trusting at first – he believes hustler Paul Snider (Downton’s Dan Stevens) who says he can introduce him to his hero, Hugh Hefner – but as the series progresses, we realise the putative mogul was utterly ruthless when it came to business. The first episode of eight is a cracker, as the show morphs from origin story to true-crime drama. Juliette Lewis is Denise, a co-producer at the club, while Nicola Peltz Beckham is Banerjee’s pal and former Playboy Playmate of the Month Dorothy Stratten, who meets a grisly end. And yes, Banerjee did name his original club after the “classy” 18th-century furniture designer.