Gutar Gu, helmed by Saqib Pandor and produced by Guneet Monga, celebrates budding love. It is sweet and savoury all at the same time. Gutar Gu cocoons adolescence and its innocence. Enveloped in six episodes, each wrapped in 25 minutes, it will leave you with a coquettish smile.
The series starts at the dawn of the day. Anuj, a teenage boy, sneaks out of his home to meet his girlfriend, Ritu and her friends. Ritu fails to meet. Later, Anuj takes Ritu and her friends on a Bhopal tour. The first episode leaves the audience in the crux of their new relationship. Anuj and Ritu fight for the first time. We see the usual ‘block’ and ‘cut off’ game the two play but then reconcile at the sunrise point. Ritu asserts that after every fight, the ‘sunrise point’ would be their home for ‘patch up.’ How surreal and metaphorical.
Vishesh Bansal plays Anuj. Bhopal reigns his heart. He belongs to this pious orthodox family and has a favourite ‘Bhaiya’ as his wingman. His devout background gets nuanced when we see how he saved Ritu’s number as ‘Amit Bhaiya’ on his phone. How Anuj secretly wakes up to meet Ritu and her friends in the morning. Moreover, Anuj is naïve, sweet, and filled with warmth. Anuj reminds most of us of our adolescence.
Ashlesha Thakur nurtures an adorable teenage girl image as Ritu. While a teenager, Ritu knows ‘misogyny’ and picks the boy who treats her well. Ritu is equally vocal and tender at the same time. She knows where to pull the boundary and when to give a toast to her open heart. However, like every other teenage girl, Ritu has a long list of ‘admirers’, but she picks Anuj as her partner. Ritu emerges with a bold heart and does not shy away from making the first move (as we see how she immediately takes an interest in Anuj in the class at first glance) and praises him, saying, ‘You’ve got balls, man’.
Satish Ray as Amit Bhaiya steals the show with his whetting comic articulation. He is the wingman to Anuj. He gives his ‘lucky’ leather jacket to Anuj so that he can impress Ritu and her friends on their first day out. Amit Bhaiya turns out to be Anuj’s best saviour throughout. His crisp glance in every scene almost gives the screenplay an extra boost and layer.
We loved how the director Saqib Pandor played with the contrast from the beginning. The difference and conflict between a boy from a traditional background and a girl from a modern Indian family get coined well in the script. Two different upbringings, yet how their love keeps budding out makes the watch, a delicate one.
Gutar Gu is a story of a small-town romance. An ode to love, fair to say! It takes you on an alleviating ride of adolescent nostalgia. You can watch it on Amazon miniTv.
IWMBuzz rates it 3.5 stars.