A Suitable Boy review: Tabu and Ishaan Khatter's show is gorgeous to look at, but an 'unsuitable mess' within | Bollywood Life

Too many cooks spoil the broth — this adage is personified in director Mira Nair’s limited web series for Netflix, A Suitable Boy, starring a host of actors from Tabu, Ishaan Khatter, Tanya Maniktala, Rasika Dugal, Ram Kapoor, Namit Das, Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, Randeep Hooda, Vijay Varma and Mahira Kakkar to Gagan Dev Riar, Vivek Gomber, Shahana Goswami, Vivaan Shah, Mikhail Sen, Danesh Razvi, Joyeeta Dutta, Sharvari Deshpande, Shubham Saraf, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Manoj Pahwa, and dealing with an array of interconnecting plotlines and subplots and underlying themes. It all makes for a pretty portrait on the surface, but alas…the moment you scratch below, the mess is far too profound to hold your attention for long. Also Read – From Mirzapur 2 to Scam 1992 and Laxmii: 10 web series and web films that have generated maximum buzz on social media– view pics

Scroll down for my full A Suitable Boy review… Also Read – A Suitable Boy trailer: Ishaan Khatter and Tabu’s love story pushes boundaries against a visually rich canvas

What’s it about

Set in 1951 around UP and Calcutta (now Kolkata), and based on Vikram Seth’s novel of the same name, A Suitable Boy primarily revolves around Maan Kapoor (Ishaan Khatter)’s infatuation with courtesan Saeeda Bai (Tabu) and Lata Mehra (Tanya Maniktala)’s quandary involving three suitors, Kabir Durrani (Danesh Razvi), Amit Chatterji (Mikhail Sen) and Haresh Khanna (Namit Das), compounded by mounting pressure, with several other subplots and subtexts, set against multiple backdrops like communal discord, class divide, extramarital affairs, patriarchy, feminism and what not. Also Read – A Suitable Boy: Ishaan Khatter, Tabu and Rasika Dugal’s miniseries earns fans’ approval

What’s hot

Every actor has done a commendable job, the production values are top notch with lavish set pieces being the highlight, the costumes, hair and makeup typify the era, Declan Quinn’s cinematography perfectly captures the fluctuating moods of the show, even when they fluctuate too much, and Alex Heffes and Anoushka Shankar’s background score and music are ideal to the milieu.

What’s not

A lot goes on in A Suitable Boy, but nothing really happens. In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that this may be Mira Nair’s most directionless piece of direction. The web show just doesn’t have an axis to pivot itself on and funnel its numerous tributaries into a larger, cohesive pool, ending up fumbling at whatever plot point it feels like randomly touching upon. You need to wait as long as till the end of the fifth episode from a total of six episodes for everything to finally start gelling together, and then, too, it’s not the kind of finishing salvo you’d hope for after hours of patience. Along with Nair, editors Nico Felton and Tanupriya Sharma also need to share blame on this front.

BL Verdict

A Suitable Boy tries its level best to be India’s big response to Jane Austen, but falls considerably short of its ambition. I’m going with 2 out of 5 stars.

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