Kaun Banegi Shikharwati review: Rich, Colourful & Quirky Coming Of Age

What: ZEE5 Kaun Banegi Shikharwati starring Naseeruddin Shah, Raghubir Yadav, Soha Ali Khan, Lara Dutta, Anya Singh, Kritika Kamra is a charming coming of age fairy tale that underlines family bonding and sisterhood in a pleasingly quirky manner.

Web series Kaun Banegi Shikharwati synopsis

The King (Naseeruddin Shah) of Shikharwati - a small town in Rajasthan owes a mammoth wealth tax to the government and the so called royal King doesn’t afford that much to pay. King’s loyal and most trusted Mishraji (Raghubir Yadav) suggests him to get his four daughters played by Lara Dutta, Soha Ali Khan, Anya Singh and  Kritika Kamra back to the place to rescue it from the government clutches. Kings four daughters have left the palace six years ago and are leading their own life.

Mishraji manages to bring the four back – where the eldest played by Lara Duta is a dominating perfectionist married to businessman played by Cyrus Sahukar.

The second daughter played by Soha Ali Khan is a wannabe guru of classical dance and the calm composed filled with good virtues lady has adopted two children a boy and a girl named after yoga asans.

The third played by Kritika Kamra (reminded me of Kareena Kapoor Khan) is a wannabe celebrity – a unsentimental influencer.

The fourth played by Anya Singh is a video game expert who has issues of allergy and fears facing people in groups.

Rest is how the sisters who are at present not in talking terms and having issues with each other including their father come together to play the game - Kaun Banegi Shikharwati ( mind you it has nothing to do with Kaun Banega Corepati hosted by megastar Amitabh Bachchan).

OTT web series Kaun Banegi Shikharwati review

A quirky set up to begin with the crazy Rajaji urf King (Naseeruddin Shah) practicing shooting by keeping kalingar (water melon) over the heads of his staff, Kaun Banegi Shikharwati directed by Gauravv K Chawla and written by Ananya Banerjee who also is the co director tell us a fairy tale of four sisters. The 10 episode series explores the pros and cons of functional/dysfunctional families, family bonding, sisterhood, love, betrayal, trust, and loyalty, royalty in real and virtual.

The prime characters – the King and her daughters are nicely structured with a proper individual story and the graph is maintained.

The web series begins on a quirky but easy slow and gradually gains momentum. The script has its mix of predictability and surprises but the overwhelming quality to keep it charmingly engaging with emotional undercurrents coming with occasional sly humour, nostalgia and romance makes it a enjoyable family binge watch package.

The values of longing, belonging, sisterhood, motherhood etc are touched upon without going overdramatic that creates a proper balance.

Performances

Nurtured by some rich high class performances where Naseeruddin Shah is a stealer.

Raghubir Yadav is outstanding.

Lara Dutta is completely in sync and delivers a fabulous performance.

Soha Ali Khan gets a difficult role and she carries it with grace and dignity.

Anya Singh is fantastic.

Kritika Kamra is perfectly casted and she just nails it to perfection.    

Cyrus Sahukar as Lara’s husband is very natural and has his moments.

Anurag Sinha as the localite leaves his impression.

Varun Thakur as the royal family guest is good.