Digital Review: ‘Ranjish Hi Sahi’ (Voot Select)
Voot Select’s latest offering is web-series ‘Ranjish Hi Sahi’, starring Tahir Raj Bhasin, Amala Paul and Amrita Puri in the main roles. The series promises an emotional love triangle between struggling director Shankar (Bhasin), a yesteryear actress Aamna (Paul) and Shankar’s wife Anju (Puri). The series has been created by Mahesh Bhatt and is a Vishesh Films production. It is based on the real life love story of Bhatt & Parveen Babi.
The story starts off seeing Shankar and his struggles, coming across many colourful characters and eventually meeting Aamna who is a popular actress at the time. Writer and director Pushpdeep Bhardwaj has developed the characters very well, including Puri’s who is scarce to start off with. He sets the scene very well and it’s easy for the viewers to get into the feel of the story with the first few episodes, although it does feel quite a long time to set a foundation of an eight episode series. Bhardwaj’s treatment of this story shows the flaws of the characters well, each one unravelling itself slowly. Bhardwaj definitely aces the 70s backdrop, as well as scenes which are crucial to the feel of each of the character’s lives and individual circumstances. It’s therefore that much easier to see the relationships changing as the series goes on.
As far as performances so, Bhasin is fantastic as Shankar, a man who is torn between his dreams and how to achieve them as well as his family and eventually someone he falls for and makes a priority. His chemistry with Paul is something that the show gets absolutely correct so props to the casting. Together, Bhasin and Paul manage to show a difficult relationship and the rollercoaster it goes through very well, to the detriment of many other things in both of their lives. Paul herself as diva Aamna is perhaps the one that steals the show, getting the troubled 70s heroine role right all through. Puri as the wife who mistakenly finds out about her husband’s bond with the heroine of his film is every inch what you expect her to be. However, sometimes it gets to a point in some scenes where you don’t really understand why she’s standing for her husband’s infidelity or him prioritising someone else. More so, in the scenes where she’s telling him she doesn’t know how to understand. It’s quite murky to say the least!
Overall, this is a very familiar story with a different treatment. It’s done decently and the performances and the world it manages to create are definitely applauseworthy. However, whether you would want to watch something which is the same thing but in different packaging is something you will need to decide yourself. A solid web-series which, in a small way, leaves you yearning for something a little different.
