Made In Heaven- Amazon Prime’s show
Cast: Arjun Mathur, Sobhita Dhulipala, Kalki Koechlin, Jim Sarbh
Directors: Zoya Akhta, Reema Kagti, Nitya Mehra, Alankrita Shrivastava and Prashant Nair.
My rating- 4.5/5
[Source: Internet]
One of the best web shows till now!
Engaging- that’s how this series is. It’s sensational, at times flippant, but very appealing! And the cherry on the top is that Made In Heaven is able to give some chief messages quite smoothly.
Amazon prime’s latest Indian original- Made In Heaven is a story of two wedding planners of Delhi. They help join rich and affluent South Delhi types and their princesses, in sacred matrimony, through their planning, plotting, lying and at times, bold and selfless ways.
Tara Khanna (Sobhita Dhulipala) and Karan Mehra (Arjun Mathur) are the owners of the wedding planning agency that’s spinning under debt but is exceptionally ambitious in its style of working. (And yes, not that we don’t know how weddings are done in Sainik Farms or Gurgaon farmhouses!)
[Source: Internet]
The story centers around the journey of two disputed, morally abstruse friends in different weddings they organize. On their way, they meet people who have been criminals, humanitarians, freelancers, former kings and typically empowered women who have been fighting their inner fears and patriarchy at the same time. But the best thing about the show is that there are no villains, only messed up people. Yes! You will naturally feel the vibes of the non-judgmental directors.
Made In Heaven presents the apparently perfect face of rich Delhi wedding scene, but it is all frighteningly dark if looked beneath the gold and shimmer on the outside.
It’s a wonderful piece of writing because every character with full-fledged backstory, gets a chance to disclose its plight, flashes and ambitions. Be it or Shivani Raghuvanshi’s sparkling production assistant or Vinay Pathak’s guilt-ridden landlord or Shashank Arora’s eccentric wedding videographer, all of them have a say in the final outcome. You cannot imagine any plot without them. They are zip-tight in their roles.
This is plot of the South Delhi you have never been able to see from behind the huge walls. These huge building have everything you can ever imagine- from private swimming pools to dozens of helpers, from big meeting halls to best architecture- you name it and they have it. But the real trouble arises when these people go out of their world. There, they encounter their shallow selves, rival and urban poverty in its most bizarre form.
The tempo for the show is set up in the first two episodes. Arjun Mathur struggling to come out as a gay, Sobhita deceived in her own house and the whole staff at Made In heaven trying to find their feet, all fit in the jigsaw puzzle.
However, the work does not stop. They plan wedding for different families- families where there are parents looking for pure and pious brides for their sons, sons organising beauty carnivals to search for brides, brides building their marriages on lies and marriages being bought in exchange for builder flats in Sainik Farms. Everyone is out to score the biggest score, love to be damned, justice to be damned and self- respect to be damned.
[Source: Internet]
Some remarkable actors appear and leave in between but they have been directed smartly. They know exactly what impact they are going to make. Couple that with Sobhita, Arjun, Kalki and Jim Sarbh’s holding performances and you will be amazed with how the show has been beaded.
The show has nine episodes-of about 55 minutes each and kudos that each episode builds up in its hour-long runtime, is evaluated by an on-the nose internal prolog by Shashank Arora on the depressing state of weddings in India, using heavy terms that otherwise, we would usually hear in a Political Science lectures. He delivers the moral of the story as he pretentiously snobs away through his camera lens. Beautifully done and made a strong impact on the viewers!
I personally believe that Made In Heaven has all that it needs for a show to break grounds for Indian web shows. It has all the perfect elements of a charismatic series. I have a lot to appreciate. Just to appreciate!
Trust me- it is a series you will want to watch in one go. And not once did I even want to skip the opening theme but a big credit for that goes to whoever created that fabulous piece of music.
So, set aside the whole day for it and ignore Captain Marvel, this weekend. A Marvel is happening right in your homes. Go and watch now.