What do you get when you have a gently bubbling mix of comedy and wit in the simmering cauldron of wistful nostalgia; garnished with the perfect blend of brilliant comic timing and well-loved characters; topped with generous dollops of rich familial love? A delicious, mushy, enjoyable food for the soul called The Aam Aadmi Family, that’s what.
TVF’s delightful and much-loved treatise on a commonplace, middle-class family is back with a Season 3. Yes, everyone’s favourite family, the Sharmas, is here on your screens, as batty and sappy and adorable as ever.
With Aam Aadmi Family Season 3, TVF has once again proved that it is the undisputed king of ‘Genre Mushy’. The home-grown streaming platform is at the peak of its heartstring-tugging powers with this poignant, joyful tale of the unconditional love that binds a family together.
The new season, written by Manan Madaan and directed by Debatma Mandal, features 5 episodes, each dealing with a quirky issue faced by the Sharma family. On the face of it, they are common enough issues, the kind that lurk within every family, given the distinctive Indian joint family ecosystem. But what grips the emotions and brings a lump to the throat is the singularly unique way in which the Sharma family grapples with, and overcomes, these all too common issues.
For those of you not in the know, the Sharmas are a quintessential Indian middle-class family, an aam aadmi family, so to say. Satendra Sharma, aka Sattu, (Brijendra Kala) is the somewhat strict, somewhat softie-at-heart patriarch of the family, while Madhu (Lubna Salim) is his always amiable, always-soothing-ruffled-
In the last season, Sonu had gotten married to a Punjabi guy, Sarthak (Pranay Manchanda), with the reluctant blessings of both sets of parents. The first episode picks up from where Season 2 left off.
Sarthak and Sonu visit home for dinner, with an aim to ingratiate their way into Sattu’s heart. But a series of laugh out loud incidents threatens to derail their plans.
What follows is a hilarious comedy of errors, before things eventually settle down and the episode ends on a sweet, positive note. There’s also some heart-warming news thrown into the mix, to heighten the warm, fuzzy feeling that envelops both, the family, and also the viewers.
Each episode carries on in a similar vein – minor quibbles threaten to snowball into major issues, before the inherent love and goodness of the family kicks into action and things slowly settle into place; much like a difficult jigsaw puzzle that takes time to fit in, but fit in, it must.
The series proves with incisive precision, that things in a family will go wrong, as they most often do.
Times will be gloomy, and trivialities will threaten to drag down the mojo of the family. But amidst all the gloom, one thing will stand out with shining luminosity, rising unerringly to dispel the gloom –the love and affection that the family has for each other.
A standout element of the show is its brilliant, brilliant casting. Every character is so perfectly etched out and each actor chosen with such care, that they fit into their roles perfectly, like a particularly comfortable glove. Brijendra Kala, especially, is outstanding as Sattu. He plays the role to picture-perfect exactitude, with his short, to-the-point dialogues, delivered in a stilted staccato tone, and with an indecipherable poker face. Lubna Salim, with her natural flair for slipping into any character with ease, lends credence to her role of a strict but doting wife and daughter-in-law. Her affectionate equation with Daadi, especially in the final episode of the series, is sure to bring tears to your eyes. Daadi is adorable as ever and Kamlesh Gill plays it with her trademark cheek and chutzpah. A special mention goes out for Sahil Verma, whose sassy cameos lend a hint of whimsy to the proceedings.
Another exceptional feature of the series is its squeaky clean story and rendering. Heck, there’s not a single cuss word spoken in the entire runtime. It’s a feel-good story that can be watched by the entire family, together. And that, in today’s age of sex-intrigue-and-testosterone-
The series ends on a bitter-sweet note that is totally unexpected. We never anticipated the end to be what it is, and it hits us like a ton of bricks. The ending has been shot with a particularly touching and profound touch, and sends a resounding jolt to the heart.
All said and done, The Aam Aadmi Family Season 3 is a series made to pander to the innate joy that resides within all of us – the joy of family, the happiness of togetherness, the delight of oneness. And that joy gurgles to the fore whenever one beholds the chronicles of an ‘aam aadmi’ family that is just like us.
In the meanwhile, 3.5/5 is our rating for The Aam Aadmi Family, Season 3.
