The Ugly Indian

Made in Heaven, Season 2 | Cast: Sobhita Dhulipala, Arjun MathurShowrunners: Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti | Hindi | Prime Video

The partners are bound together in a sacred thread as a Buddhist monk chants. Two warrior princesses ride into their commitment ceremony wearing dresses that look like armour. A couple exchanges vows in a nikaah as the first wife looks on. Marriages in the second season of Made in Heaven are not always perfect but the series is. Anything by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti will always speak of progressive values but this time, Made in Heaven hits it out of the park with its authentic casting and imperfect relationships. He’s a nice boy, says Sobhita Dhulipala (Tara) to her mother in one scene, referring to her new beau, a chef played by a rumpled Ishwak Singh, “You were not made for suburban boys with EMIs,” replies her mother crisply. Tara has always had her eye on the main chance, and refuses to be judged for her desire to be rich. Another character says to Arjun Mathur’s Karan, “You can love your mom, but you don’t have to like her. I’m sorry but she was a bitch.” For all its beautiful designer clothes and gorgeous homes, Akhtar and Kagti and their co-directors Neeraj Ghaywan, Nitya Mehra and Alankrita Shrivastava are not afraid to confront ugliness head on. It’s the ugliness that makes people discriminate on the basis of skin colour, caste, sexuality or class. It’s the ugliness that allows men to marry more than one woman in the presence of his first wife. It’s the ugliness that allows people to make distinctions on the basis of which body one chooses to inhabit. Tara and Karan are back again planning weddings in tony Delhi families, joined by new members, accountant Bulbul (brilliantly played by the underrated Mona Singh) and production head Meher (a transwoman played by a transwoman, Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju). The polished, gleaming exteriors hide all manner of rottenness: a boyfriend who is abusive, a fiancé only interested in the woman’s bank balance, and a husband unable to see the cruelty he is inflicting on his wife. This is the reality behind the freshly cut flowers, the pink champagne, the Sabyasachi lehengas, and the cut glass accents.

Why watch it: Weddings, families and money. Made in Heaven 2 has it all, with a liberal dose of how to be a liberal. A guilty pleasure that is also worthwhile. What could be better?

Gangs of Gulaabgunj

Guns & Gulaabs | Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Dulquer Salmaan, Gulshan DevaiahShowrunners: Raj & DK | Hindi | Netflix

A guy with a crummy haircut who is a wizard with the knife (Atmaram, played with gold-toothed relish by Gulshan Devaiah). Another with equally awful hair who can do magic with a spanner, when it comes to fixing motorbikes and cycles, as well when it comes to dismembering antagonists (Tipu, played by Rajkummar Rao). An IPS officer who has just busted an arms racket and loves old Hindi film songs (Arjun played by Dulquer Salmaan). They all meet in Gulaabgunj, where the opium grown by farmers is exported by the local don Ganchi, played by the late Satish Kaushik. Ganchi’s former aide has delusions of becoming the opium king of the area, as does Ganchi’s fey son, Junior (Adarsh Gourav). Added to that is Tipu’s love story with the town’s sole English teacher and it is the most unusual small-town caper set in the 1990s. Among the many sub-plots is a group of young girls and boys, classmates in the local school, who fall in and out of love, set to the music of 1990s bands and Irving Wallace bestsellers.

Why watch it: Not merely for its nostalgia, which it has in spades, but also for a plot that keeps you on your toes

About The Author

Kaveree Bamzai

Kaveree Bamzai is an author and a contributing writer with Open

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