After a long time, here comes a web series that is truly desi…. Yes, ‘Made in Heaven’ is truly the kind of content that ideally web should offer Indian viewers. What Indian viewers want are Indian stories in Indian settings, and not the sex, abuse and drugs drama that’s being offered by most OTT players in the name of web entertainment. Made In Heaven stands out as it shows the true story of modern Indian urban weddings and what goes on behind them. With the recent grand Ambani wedding that was trending, this one seems like an apt tribute to the weddings of the rich and the famous. Though, what it shows is more the dark side of these rich weddings and the hollowness behind the pomp and show.
Without being preachy, the show raises many questions on our social and economic structures. While some episodes drag a bit, overall Made In Heaven truly comes up as an entertainer that deserves a thumbs up. After Inside Edge and Mirzapur, Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani bring out their third web offering that’s been written by three prolific women filmmakers of the country, namely, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti and Alankrita Srivastava.
Watching the 9 episodes of this web series is like attending 9 different weddings, each with their own twists and turns. But each episode makes you think and introspect about how society, however modern, has become; the core problems still remain unchanged, be it for the rich or the poor.
Loosely inspired from films such as Monsoon wedding and Band Baaja Baraat, Made In Heaven is the story of two young wedding planners, Tara and Karan, whose Delhi-based wedding company organizes high profile weddings. The show chronicles these weddings, while each episode also moves one with the ups and downs of Tara and Karan’s personal lives.
The nine-episode series boasts of an ensemble cast like Pulkit Samrat, Vikrant Massey, Neena Gupta, Rasika Duggal, Deepti Nawal, Shweta Tripathi, Maanvi Gagroo, Manjot Singh, etc. But the show belongs to Sobhita Dhulipala as Tara, who just emotes from her eyes. From playing a smart business-woman to a suspecting wife, Sobhita carries her grey role with aplomb, and it’s hard to believe that this is her debut show as an actress. Made in Heaven’s other strength is actor Anuj Mathur, who has given a flawless performance as a homosexual guy running a wedding business while fighting his own personal battles.
The Hinglish show also has Shashank Arora playing the narrator. He plays a cameraman who shoots all the weddings and looks through the weddings as the metaphors in life. The show also brings Shashank together with his Titli co-star, Shivani Raghuvanshi, who plays Jazz, the typical Rohini Ki Dilli ki ladki. After Padmavat, Jim Sarbh stands out as playing Tara’s husband, with Kalki playing Tara’s best friend. These four, along with Sobhita and Anuj, are the key cast in the main story.
The show raises issues that range from homosexuality to dowry to adultery to honour killing to even the rich-poor divide. While the lead actress Tara deals with her broken marriage, as a planner, she’s always mending other people’s married lives. Her partner Karan, a smart wedding planner, is a gay in real life, looking for true love while hooking up with different men. Some circumstances change their personal lives and their wedding business also goes through ups and downs.
The show opens with the first episode, directed by Zoya Akhtar and featuring Neena Gupta. It talks about a middle-class girl getting married to the heir of a business family. The second episode, again by Zoya, seems to be inspired by Salman Khan, played by Pulkit Samrat. What happens when the bride gets involved with a celebrity actor on her wedding day has been cutely captured in this story.
The third episode, featuring Dipti Naval, which has been directed by Nitya Mehra, was emotional and heart-touching. Nitya also directed the fourth episode featuring Shweta Tripathi and Ravish Desai, which is based on dowry. Nitya, who had made Baar Baar Dekho last year, surprises with her treatment of the story and characters.
The fifth episode has been directed by Prashant Nair of film ‘Umrika’ fame, and it talks about NRIs exploiting Indian girls, while the sixth episode deals with the superstitions that are prevalent even today in Indian weddings.
Episodes 8 and 9 have been directed by Lipstick Under My Burkha director Alankrita Srivastava. Episode 8 features Maanvi Gagroo as a loud Delhi bride. The finale episode had Rasika Duggal playing a political daughter who is being married off against her wishes by her political family. Finally the season ends with Tara and Karan in shattered positions, with a shattered Made in Heaven that they both had conceived.
The season ends with a hope that the two will resurrect their personal and professional lives in the new season.
We will give 4 out of 5 for coming up with something Indian yet socially relevant on web in recent times. Kudos to the makers for creating this nice show.
(Written by Shweta Mahesh)