Comedy in the fiction space, that too in a popular GEC, has always been elusive pertaining to creating a niche in terms of audience impact and brand recognition.
SAB TV rules the space with its Taaraks of the world and &TV scored big with its hilarious saga Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hai.
Colors is attempting comedy with Bhaag Bakool Bhaag and intends to open new corridors of opportunity in the hitherto not so exploited genre.
Here, we would like to make an observation. It is sad that despite Indian TV becoming so huge in terms of reach and popularity, yet producers and channels still hark on hackneyed Bollywood themes to run a show, as in the case of Bhaag Bakool Bhaag. This one man two wives sitcom is one of the many TV adaptations of 90’s super hit flick Sajaan Chale Sasural starring Govinda, Tabu and Karishma Kapoor (the initial episodes breathe same plot).
The choice of Jay Soni as the lead is apt for he is seen as a nice man trapped by circumstances to commit bigamy. He sure has a comic bone and displays necessary humour touch while wife swapping with ease and command.
Hiba Nawab plays ‘the I care a damn’ rich girl with equal ease. Ideally, we would have expected her to try out more concrete stuff after her strong debut with Tere Sheher Mein, having said that, cutting edge shows are a few and far between and artists need to keep working.
Shruti Rawat as the other Gujarati wife has a clear cut brief of being the traditional dimwit housewife (mera pati mer bhagwan types), which she is enacting commendable to the T. It does seem a tad over stretched at times, but that’s Indian comedy for you.
The real over-the-top humour so far has been between Bakool and his father-in-law Ranjit (Navin Bawa). The former guilt trips him to marrying his daughter for his own ends. Agreed some of the jokes which are being cracked by them and also his memory losing man servant might not appeal to Netflix and Amazon generation. But we also have accept that that there is a huge Indian audience not only in small towns but even in big metros that like such content. And who are we to question what some one likes or not?
The general desi masses are not overtly fond of understated humour, they want it in the face, no wonder FIR (made by same producer Edit 2) was such a huge hit. There is a degree of below the belt humour but Indian folklore is quite risqué as well. The joke about Bakool not wanting to have suhaag raat is just what the doctor ordered for this TG.
Bakool’s friend Harishankar Harry Upadhyay (Hardik Sangani) and the female vegetable vendor make up the other sundry characters so far.
The backdrop, set and costumes could have been better. Hope the makes and the channel adds more intent and focus on production quality.
The challenge for the makers is that they will need to constantly churn quality content in a limited concept ambit. Here the right writing team comes into play for once the characters are loved then even if tracks go haywire; the day can still be saved.
Indianwikimedia would rate the show: 3/5