A sparkling season

Nonika Singh

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Band, baaja and prejudice… Three words come to mind, even if these may not entirely sum up the sparkling franchise ‘Made in Heaven’. When the first season streamed on Amazon Prime Video in 2019, we were struck by the sheer brilliance, originality and the manner in which it intercut the lives of its lead players and the episodic characters. First time is the charm, yet, the second season of ‘Made in Heaven’ is as smartly packaged. Despite an initial feeling of déjà vu, the show that skillfully uses India’s never-ending obsession with marriage to unmask societal flaws remains on course. Slowly, it begins to enthral us just as much as its first outing.

The template is the same and so are the major characters and actors, all in great form this time too. Besides, each episode brings a known face. Mrunal Thakur, Sanjay Kapoor, Pulkit Samrat, Dia Mirza, Radhika Apte; why, even Anurag Kashyap makes his presence felt. To further liven up the proceedings, there are new entrants in the wedding planners’ company. Bulbul (Mona Singh) enters as an abrasive auditor and as her character develops, we simply begin to love her.

Written by Reema Kagti, Zoya Akhtar and Alankrita Shrivastava, the series is majorly women’s point of view while being as vocal about LGBTQ rights. The makers do not pay lip service to inclusivity. Rather, they cast a transgender actor, Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju (Meher). With homosexuality no longer illegal, the focus is on Karan’s (Arjun Mathur) acceptance at a micro level. If he is a troubled soul, others are not in a ‘heavenly’ state either. Jassi’s (Shivani Raghuvanshi) brother needs rehab, Tara’s (Sobhita Dhulipala) divorce with Aadil (Jim Sarbh) is getting messier and Kabir (Shashank Arora) is caught in the open relationship dilemma. Bulbul carries some scars too.

Where are the fairytale endings? That’s a question not only Jassi asks but hovers over our mind too. But these are no gloom and doom stories. Even as the seven-part series takes a hard look at the schisms around marriage, it celebrates love and unions too. Fairytale endings acquire a new meaning in the episode starring real-life couple Neelam and Sameer Soni. Indeed, given the complex social reality of India, ideal marriage is possibly a chimera that women can’t stop chasing.

Transgender rights, domestic abuse, polygamy, same-sex marriage, self-love — the series bites into more than one issue. At times, the messaging gets the better of storytelling; yet, the show is slick, fun, sassy and brave. The creators stick their neck out and question the Islamic practice of more than one wife. With Neeraj Ghaywan at the helm of a few episodes, can Dalit identity be far behind? The episode is elevated by Radhika Apte’s prowess and as the commentary goes, ‘Today Delhi skipped its heartbeat’; so did we. While the gaze remains largely feminist, not all men — or women for that matter — are painted with the same brush.

A destination wedding in France, a Buddhist ceremony, a nikah and a Christian wedding… there are varied shades. With its opulent and elaborate production design, the series does justice to the diversity and complexity that India is. Editing is sharp and the background score as apt as music. Pre-wedding shoots are telling. Only, at times, the show tries to be a trifle too woke. Yet, as each episode ends with a cautionary note, it strikes home and emphatically conveys what creators Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti set out to: marriages are made in heaven or not, entertainment and insight need not be divorced from each other.