Director
Apoorv Singh Karki
Cast
Amruta Subhash, Yamini Das, Anandeshwar Dwivedi, Anup Soni, Anjana Sukhani, Manu Bisht, Nikhil Chawla, Shreyansh Kaurav, Nikhil Chawla, Nisha Jindal, Ankit Motghare
What’s The Story
Based in the historic lanes of Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi, ‘Saas Bahu Aachar Pvt. Ltd.’ revolves around Suman who constantly struggles to set up an achaar business and kickstart her entrepreneurial journey with a pure-hearted intent to get her kids back from her ex-husband, Dilip. In this struggle, her support system is her ex-mother-in-law.
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What’s Good
The Relatable Story And Amruta Subhash’s Performance Steal The Show
Writers Abhishek Srivastava and Swarnadeep Biswas have managed to tap into the emotions of the Indian middle class and come up with another bitter-sweet tale. Its relatability is what makes this worth your time. Whether it is the grandmother’s love towards the grandkids or it is the children’s hatred towards the stepmother or it is the husband’s dichotomy between the mother of his kids and his new wife – everything seems plucked from real-life instances of a typical middle-class family.
Apoorv Singh Karki with his brilliant direction has tried to shatter some age-old tropes in Indian society. The mother-in-law and the wife can be good friends. The ex-wife and the new wife can have a civil and amicable relationship. Not necessary that the stepmother is always the evil witch. The kids can start to like their stepmother. There are many more such things that make the relatability factor of the show even more touching.
It’s rare but the music and the background score by Nilotpal Bora are superb. There are a couple of songs played in the background during episode closures that stick on to you. For a web series, it’s indeed a rare feat to achieve.
Talking of the performances, Amruta Subhash walks away with the lion’s share of the praises. The ease with which she embodies herself into the character of Suman is brilliant. Not for a moment would you not see the traits and characteristics of a typical middle-class Indian mother who is trying her level best to stand up on her feet again after a divorce. The nuances to the character that Subhash brings are too hard to ignore. There is a scene where she is heartbroken but ensures that she doesn’t break down in front of her daughter and waits to start crying only when she has walked out of the room. Then there is a scene where she is angry and haggles with a restaurant manager to make him buy her achaar (pickle) but at the end gets down to almost begging so that he ends up buying her achaar. There are numerous such scenes where the undertones speak more than the character herself, and Subhash needs a standing ovation for the terrific performance.
All the supporting characters have performed well. Yamini Das as the loveable grandmother to Anup Soni as the angry father to Anjana Sukhani as the warm stepmother to Anandeshwar Dwivedi as the friendly neighbour, everyone has come up with a great act. Special applause for Ankit Motghare as the news reporter who uncovers the mystery behind the achaar. In just one scene where he is talking to people on the streets about the mysterious achaar to tasting the achaar himself, he has done a hilarious over-the-top job which is a perfect sarcastic slap on the on-field news reporters of today’s news channels.
Editor Sumeet Kotian kept the length of the episodes less and edited the show so well that it crisply ended in just 6-episodes.
What’s Bad
The Predictability Hampers The Story And Leaves No Mystery For The Climax
The predictability of the story is the only factor that slightly hampers the enjoyment. You know what’s going to happen at the end pretty much after the first episode, and thus there is hardly any mystery left.
The cinematography by Arjun Kukreti is one department that could have done much better. There are a few scenes that look a bit dimly lit and don’t show up that well. The cinematography could have tried to bring forth the nostalgia of Old Delhi a bit more.
Verdict
There is hardly much that’s not likable in ‘Saas Bahu Achaar Pvt Ltd’. The name is indeed uncanny but expresses the intent perfectly. The performances and the smooth writing is what makes this very relatable and fun. It’s indeed a Must Watch. I am going with 4 stars.
