Never Ending Movie Carnival
Never Ending Movie Carnival
What: Disney+Hotstar Dil Bekaraar by Habib Faisal starring Raj Babbar, Poonam Dhillon, Padmini Kolhapure, Akshay Oberoi, Sahher Bamba and others is a delightfully nostalgic ride that pays ode to the cinema of Basu Chatterjee, and Sai Paranjpye.
Dil Bekaraar synopsis
Adapted from Anuja Chauhan’s novel Those Pricey Thakur Girls. Dil Bekaraar is about the life of retired Supreme Court judge LN Thakur (Raj Babbar), his wife Mamta (Poonam Dhillon) and their daughters Debjani (Sahher Bambba), Anjini (Sukhmani Sadana), Binodini (Anjali Anand) and Eshwari (Medha Shankar). They also have a fifth daughter Chandu who has eloped.
The story is told through Debjani who after walking out from an ad shoot of “Hamara Bajaj” where the ad man is probably modelled on Prahlad Kakkar, gets hired to read the news on the government television channel Deshdarpan (yes you guess is right – Doordarshan).
Debjani becomes an overnight celebrity but a review by struggling newspaper journalist Dylan (Akshay Oberoi) – son of her father’s dear friend and card partner Sahas (Tej Sapru) a retired Army officer quirkily brings Debjani and Dylan together. The series then through the romance of Debjani and Dylan unfolds the happening events during that era.
What if a cocktail of Basu Chatterjee’s Baton Baton Mein and Balaji’s Hum Paanch gets created today for OTT.
National Award Winner Habib Faisal (Do Dooni Chaar) directs this 10-episode series written by Suhani Kanwar and Ruchika Roy.
The warm, feel good, and nostalgic rom com appeal hits gets the ‘Gold Spot’ and its lovingly intimate in getting the audience hooked into the romance of Debjani and Dylan.
Dil Bekaraar is on song hitting the heart strings rightly in the family feel good mode.
The writers add some quirk in the extended family which works like the typically lecherous brother AN Thakur (Pankaj Kalra), his wife Bhudevi (Padmini Kolhapure), who eats paan and instead of spitting the katha, spits cuss words at will.
On the daughter’s front – middle age Anjini is beautiful, over obsessive about her figure and suffers from attention seeking disease. Eshwari is a teenager who likes to hang out with a guy but hates to date. Binodini has issues with her father and constantly worried about her status.
The series does reflect the social issues of that era which surprisingly blends with something similar happening today. Freedom of expression, patriotism, corruption where we are introduced to politician Hardik Motla (Chandrachoor Singh) and the continue refence of ‘aache din’.
Performance
Akshay Oberoi and Sahher Bambba lovely chemistry anchors this delightful show.
Akshay Oberoi is endearing and Sahher Bambba charming throughout.
Among the veterans Raj Babbar is fabulous. Poonam Dhillon is fantastic and Padmini Kolhapure once gain proves she can deliver any role any time.
Medha Shankar and Anjali Anand have their moments.
The famous villain of the nineties Tej Sapru competently plays a good caring friend.
Flaws
The nostalgia mostly restricted to those songs is by look and feel lacks observation. The cuss words where not at all required.
Final words
Dil Bekaraar has lots of ‘Gold Spots’ in its breezy, heart stirring, nostalgically delightful ride, it embraces its quirky family members as a unit and allows them to be what they are.
A child born from life & fed by cinema. A filmi keeda from child & a film journalist for the last fifteen years. a father, seeker, foodie who loves crooning bollywood melodies twitter.com/cineblues More By vishal verma