Cast: Shaheer Sheikh, Ankita Lokhande, Randeep Rai, Pooja Bambra, Usha Nadkarni,
Director: Nandita Mehra
BLUF
Archana and Manav meet when she accompanies her heartbroken, sloshed friend to a garage where he works to pick her car up. Manav offers to drop both to their destination. The story is the reprise of the original story of Pavitra Rishta but will have several elements altered, and a few characters added. The web series format is well directed and executed.
THE MEAT AND THE POTATOES
Archana worked as a server in a cafe and was engaged to marry a bank official called Satish.
Manav is mistaken to be the garage manager by Archana and her family, who see him drop her home in a posh car. Manav’s mother has orchestrated the misconception.
Archana is terrified when the police call her and her café owner Ajit to investigate some illegal activities happening at the cafe.
Satish rescues Archana’s, but his mother assassinates Archana’s character. Archana’s mother, who tries to defend her darling daughter, gets into an ugly spat with Satish’s mother, eventually causing the engagement to break.
Archana’s mother decides that she will get Archana married to a better match. An anxious Archana leaves the house to calm herself and bumps into Manav amidst a heavy downpour. The next seven episodes purely focus on how Archana and Manav’s bond strengthens day by day, bit by bit. Savita’s greed and lies lead to their marriage falling apart right after the wedding concludes, but Archana and Manav only fall deeper in love despite all the odds.
IN THE KNOW
The bond between Archana and Manav is a steep arc but does not seem rushed or unreal. The leads’ characters are quickly and convincingly laid out, which is difficult, but the director does a fabulous job of this.
The sequence where Archana and Manav get locked in the cafe and the growth of their relationship while they are. It further shows how that is the only time they get to know each other well. Ankita and Shaheer so well portray each emotion in that episode. The scenes where Archana and Manav officially separate after signing the marriage annulment papers are well executed.
The characters of Manjusha, Archana’s Aai, her brother, Archana’s fiance Satish and Manav’s mother Savita have also been well-defined. The characters, character traits, storyline, and concept almost remain the same as in the earlier story; the execution is speedy and modern.
The title track music is changed slightly, and Palak Muchhal does justice to this old gold.
The creatives are pretty polished and more realistic compared to Pavitra Rishta, the TV show.
We did not doubt that Ankita Lokhande would be the best Archana again, but audiences had their doubts about seeing Shaheer Sheikh in place of Sushant Singh Rajput as Manav.
But Shaheer proves once more that he is an actor par excellence. He does not bring any other aspect into his portrayal of Manav except his understanding of this genuine and lovable character.
Shaheer is an absolute fit as the courteous Manav in every shot.
We presume some fans of Sushant may want to stay away from this web series because of how they feel about anyone him as Manav in the series.
Sushant was already successfully replaced by Hiten Tejwani as Manav after SSR quit the show to pursue his Bollywood career in 2012.
So let’s not forget that.
Suchitra Bandekar is Archana’s Aai, Abhidhnya Bhave has stepped in as Manjusha in place of Swati Anand, Randeep Rai as Shaheer’s brother Sachin is also great casting.
The dialogue writer, Rita Bhatia, deserves a special shoutout for keeping the dialogues sharp.
Binod Ghimire has magnificently created the BG score. Arpit Mehta, Udit Prajapati, and Mukund S have done a fine job composing the title track’s reprise version.
The series is a bomb. We loved it.
WHAT WE LOVED:
Shaheer Sheikh
The Direction
WHAT WE MISSED:
Nada.
