Director
Sajid Ali, Archit Kumar
Series Creator
Imtiaz Ali
Cast
Shakti Kumar, Neeraj Kashyap, Vidya Malvade, Kumud Mishra, Vivek Mushran, Shekhar Suman, Gaurav Parajuli, Ajitesh Gupta, Aashish Dubey, Abhisshek Tiwari, Leena Sharma, Pitobash, Sandeepa Dhar
What’s The Story
Dr Arora (Kumud Mishra) is a massively sought-after sexologist. Men and women experiencing troubles in their sex life reach out to him for solving their problems. Meanwhile, he is himself going through a crisis in his married life and looking for a second chance with his wife (Vidya Malavade) who left him 15 years back. Will helping his patients with their sex-related problems help Dr Arora to sort out his marital problems?
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What’s Good
Kumud Mishra And Vivek Mushran Have Nailed It
Kumud Mishra playing the titular role of ‘Dr Arora’ comes up with a nuanced portrayal of a man who is not just bogged down by a broken marriage but is on a road to help other people not have similar marital problems. Mishra isn’t loud and doesn’t try too hard to put his point forth, but it’s the innate subtlety that he brings in the character that makes the performance stand out. He carries the weight of the show on his able shoulders and manages to bring to life the character of a sexologist – a profession that has hardly ever been shown with such respect in Indian cinema.
Vivek Mushran is fantastic. He has minimal screen time, but the way he has managed to pull off the character of a newspaper editor is brilliant. His quirky body language along with his menacing looks makes you want to see more and more of him. With his shrewd and cunning attitude, he brings out the character perfectly. His character actually showcases what news reporting has stooped down to in today’s times. Even though the show is set in the late 1990s, it shows the beginnings of an era where news channels are hungry for TRPs without giving much importance to the truth.
The music of the show is another key highlight. There are hardly any web series’ that have songs and to see not just one but quite a few good tracks was a welcome change in ‘Dr Arora’. Composed by Niladri Kumar, the beautiful track ‘Mehram’ sung by Arijit Singh is sure to touch your heart. Even ‘Bewafa Mashooqa’, which is composed by Sunny MR and sung by Ravi Mishra, is sure to find a place in your playlists.
Rajesh Shukla’s cinematography successfully brings to life the feel of the late 1990s to perfection. The little detailing in the railway compartments or even the tea stalls, makes the narrative come out great.
What’s Bad
Imtiaz Ali’s Story Has Numerous Loose Ends
Raj Arjun’s accent as the firangi baba is too difficult to understand. Even though Arjun played the character with a lot of heart, the problem with the accent made his dialogues come out not that great. Thereby, the entire character looked utterly caricaturish.
Manish Jaitly’s editing could have been a lot crisper. The story kept dragging in the middle which hurt the pace of the show. Had the story ended in just 6 episodes it would have been a much tighter show to watch.
The direction by Sajid Ali and Archit Kumar seemed lacklustre. It didn’t have the powerful impact that all Imtiaz Ali stories have. Even though the climax was unpredictable, it was not presented that well. The entire jail sequence was too hurried up, and the audience was bombarded with something strikingly different with very little time to soak in. To add to that, the closing conversation between Kumud Mishra and Vidya Malavade tried to show optimism but ended up seeming very fake.
Imtiaz Ali’s story leaves some loose ends which don’t make any sense. For example, the son of the newspaper editor gets a photo of Dr Arora and decides to call the doctor up and warn him. However, nothing happens to that angle. Then there is the young party worker who feels that the doctor has been wrongly accused, but nothing more is explored in that direction. Probably Imtiaz Ali left these for the next season, but even so, there should have been a proper closure for these loose ends.
Verdict
Kumud Mishra’s ‘Dr Arora’ goes on to very minutely describe the issues and problems that people face all over while having to visit a sexologist. However, the slow pace of the narrative is what makes you yawn throughout. The unpredictable twist in the climax comes a bit too hurriedly for everyone to process what’s happening. Overall this is just about an Average Watch. I am going with 2.5 stars.
