Series – Karle Tu Bhi Mohabbat
Starring – Ram Kapoor as Karan Khanna, Sakshi Tanwar as Tripurasundari Nagrajan
Created by – Ekta Kapoor
Written by – Reshu Nath
Directed by – Muzammil Desai
Platform – Alt Balaji
Episodes – 7
The much awaited and anticipated platform of the largest soap factory in India, finally took off with the advent of five brand new exclusive shows for the same.
The most talked about, the most buzzed of their new shows was Karle Tu Bhi Mohabbat. Nearly three years after the end of Bade Achhe Lagte Hai, the popular pair of Ram Kapoor and Sakshi Tanwar were making a comeback with the series and fans couldn’t be more excited.
Playing the role of a superstar who refuses to act his age, admit his stardom is fading away and who would rather lose himself at the bottom of a barrel than confront his demons Ram Kapoor returns as Karan Khanna, a divorced man and as of now, a father of a twenty-two year old.
Sakshi, effectively compliments him yet again as Tripurasundari Nagrajan, a 34 year old deaddiction counselor, with a stellar professional career, who on the personal front has no life whatsoever and an OCD to keep herself sanitised at all times.
The two cross paths when Karan needs to prove himself dependable to be cast as the leading actor in the next project of one Mr. Hirani (A nod to the Munnabhai maker). Aware of his chops and yet weary of his drinking problems, Mr. Hirani makes Karan sign an agreement wherein he agrees to cast him only when Karan gets help for his addiction issues and only when Mr. Hirani is assured of Karan’s recovery shall he sign him on for the movie.
From thereon, the show effectively changes gears and Karan accompanied by Tripurasundari ‘Tipsy’ Nagrajan, heads to Mahabaleshwar to attend the wedding of his estranged daughter and encounters his ex, played by Shweta Kawatra of Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki fame with whom he’s still not amicable.
Slowly Tipsy begins to see the man behind the star, as she witnesses the encounters between Karan and his ex as well as his daughter, who addresses him as Mr. Khanna. In a drunken stupor Karan admits how he’s emotionally stunted, via his admission of failing to fight for anything that concerns him personally despite labelling Tipsy as an emotionally stunted woman before.
The chemistry between the two is exactly the same as BALH, which is to say that these two are just as amazing as before.
It is however the writing of the series that I wish would do better justice to them. Won’t lie but the first four episodes seemed very rushed to me as if they simply wanted to get to the family drama of Karan Khanna’s life and the last three in comparison fared better.
My biggest grouch with any Balaji series to date, however many I’ve seen has simply been the lack of character development in any of their series. The heroines are always too perfect for prime time tv viewing and the hero a little damaged, nothing the heroine can’t help and heal though.
This platform however does not work by the same logic. It simply won’t survive if the rules of the game remain the same. Here there are no more channels and their nosey interference or a rat race for a number on a chart. Here is the chance for Ms. Kapoor and company to shine on and prove themselves in all their glory and either fail miserably or succeed spectacularly.
So, I’d love to witness with the progression of the series, more insights into the history of Karan and Tipsy. Be it his descent into alcoholism and the reason why he was so invested in his career that he completely disappeared from the lives of his family and ended up so lonely or why Tipsy is putting up with a hedonistic cousin even as she makes a living by counselling addicts and prides in her success at helping them regain their lives, by making them recover from their addiction/s completely. Or why is she such a spendthrift and moneyminded woman who strangely seems to have trapped herself in a life of routine as though it’s her coping mechanism to deal with her life’s adversities.
What worked for me – the chemistry between Ram and Sakshi, the fact that Tipsy mentions to Karan, he has to work on his personal issues and sort them out to commence his recovery. Seems like there’s some thought put into incorporating the psychological aspects of addiction in the writing; at least I hope that’s the case wholeheartedly.
What didn’t work for me – the humour sometimes didn’t really seem funny, the three old gentlemen who seemed to don’t understand the writing on the wall, the crazy woman stalker and last but not the least watching Shweta Kawatra who for some reason wasn’t convincing enough to me. Also it grated on my nerves after a point whenever the word “behna” popped up in any conversation between the cousins. Thanks to YHM I know at least this that Tamilians address their older sisters as Akka, the honorific for didi… so why can’t Sherry call Tipsy with the same is beyond me and even if they’re trying to show a progressive family, can they simply stop using the word just completely? Please. It’s annoyingly repetitive and no one talks like that for crying out loud in reality.
The editing is crisp, however I wish the background music wouldn’t be so loud that sometimes hearing the dialogues becomes difficult and the direction is wonderful.
Also, is the whole Punjabi Tamilian, cross cultural love story the new fascination of Ekta Kapoor or what? After Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, she reused the formula with a little twist in her short lived star plus series Kuch toh hai tere mere darmiyaan and now again two of her webseries – KTMB and R&J, have the same Punjabi Tamilian lovers angle.
I don’t know why Ms. Kapoor is so fascinated by the concept but it’s getting old and I certainly hope that it wouldn’t be used so liberally that it absolutely loses the touch of novelty.
Would rate this season with no more than 2.5 out of five. And hopefully we get a better idea of how the seasons will be launched over the next few days really, while this would help with quality of content wonderfully, having a clearer picture of things wouldn’t hurt naturally.
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