Pyaar Testing is a sweet rom-com of a series on live-in relationships

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Set in Rajasthan, considered among the most orthodox states of India, Pyaar Testing is a sweet, relatable rom-com. It seems to a simple under 3-hour film converted into a web-series, since it essentially talks about live-in relationships with humor and a base of two ‘normal’ Indian families, and we have had a few movies on the same theme in recent years.

The series begins with strangers Dhruv (Satyajeet Dubey) and Amrita Rathore Plabhita Borthakur) helping respective close friends Rohan (Mohit Sharma) and Mikki (Himanshi Meena) to elope. Turns out Dhruv’s and Amrita’s match is planned and a meeting arranged between their families. Amrita, however, springs a surprise: she wants a trial ‘live-in’ period with Dhruv for two months before she can commit to marriage. She will live in his house with his parents and the contract also includes (obviously given the Indian context) ‘no sex’!

On both sides, the parents are shocked, but Dhruv gives consent as he feels that life needs experiments like these. Reluctantly, the families agree. Dhruv is someone who has yet to make it big, with his files stuck in a government department due to red-tape. Amrita runs a ‘vegan’ café in which most customers do not pay as they are people known to her! The back-story is that she has turned vegan after a chicken (!!) she had loved named Dexter was served as a meal!

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Dhruv’s obsession is environment for the next generation, and he has rationed the use of electricity and water in his own home. Amrita’s elder sister, Avantika (Namrata Senani Garg) is sympathetic but skeptic about Amrita’s way of life and tends to be a shade sarcastic about her obsession for veganism and the future of her café. The contract is almost called off because Dhruv says that he is a non-vegetarian, but he agrees to turn vegetarian for the period of the contract.

Conflicts, squabbles and more arise, but amidst all this, Dhruv also helps Amrita in making her café get more customers and Amrita also gets his paperwork cleared by pretending to be a cop with the inept officers in the municipal corporation. And then comes the crisis: Dhruv breaks a vital rule in the contract and confesses this to Amrita. All hell breaks loose.

Through its crisp (7 episodes of less than 25 minutes each) script, the director and writers also deliver sensible messages on various social and personal issues to both the older and current generations and manage to entertain us at the same time. The dialogues are refreshing in their candor and an obnoxious web compulsion—expletives—is conspicuous by its absence.

The background score is unobtrusive and the songs functional. The series is well-shot and edited and the performances of the lead players, especially Plabhuta Borthakur, stand out. Satyajeet Dubey is cute as the earnest and often-hassled Dhruv. Namrata Senani Garg, with her very expressive eyes, is superb as Amrita’s sister. Abhishek Khare as Gulab Singh, the amusing family servant, is especially good too.

But the entire cast puts in good work—Amit Munjal and Neelu Dogra as Amrita’s parents, Gaurav Shikre and Sonali Desai as Dhruv’s father and mother, Ruby Thukral as his progressive and ever-smiling grandmother and Om Prakash Vinayak as Digvijay, her aged friend. The actors playing Rohan, Mikki and their respective parents are also commendable in briefer roles.

There is a very, very minor blip here: in the end-credit titles, the names of two characters and the actors playing them are mistakenly interchanged in the cast column. Wonder why they were careless about such things!

Watch this one for its ‘plus’ qualities: wholesome entertainment, good social comments, fine performances and dialogues and a crisp yet unhurried script. These are qualities you do not get in many a series.

Rating: ***1/2

ZEE5 presents Zee Studios’ Pyaar Testing Produced by: Pragati Deshmukh & Umesh KR Bansal Directed by: Shiva Verma & Saptaraj Chakravorty Written by: Janki Vishwanathan & Aseem Chandaver Music: Soutrik Chakraborty Starring: Satyajeet Dubey, Plabita Borthakur, Amit Munjal, Neelu Dogra, Gaurav Shikre, Namrata Senani Garg, Sonali Desai, Ruby Thukral, Mohit Sharma, Himanshi Meena, R.C. Meena, Shilpi Mathur & others

Related posts:

She calls herself ‘The Funny Brown Mom’: comedian Zarna Garg Do Patti: Kriti Sanon dazzles, but film frazzles The iconic legend—Meena Kumari The Top 100 players for the 2017-18 NBA season