A story of love, politics and heartbreak
The series gives you various definitions of love – love is when you trust someone or when you miss someone, it is friendship or a mutating virus
What is love? – The new Netflix series ‘Taj Mahal 1989’ revolves around this question. Figuring out the minutiae of
love and friendship, the series takes you on the journey of 1989 Lucknow city. Taj Mahal 1989 is one of its kind perioddrama set in the backdrop of Bara Imambara, Rumi Darwaza and narrates the story of four couples, who are in search of the meaning of love and friendship.
Released on February 14, the series has already created a buzz among youngsters as the story deals with politics of college and life around it. The director Pushpendra Nath Mishra takes you to the age before Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram and Tinder, where communications were not
limited to uploading hastag #status.
The seven episodes of the series narrate the story of four couples and each one of them has a different perception of
love. Four separate love stories parallelly go with the university life – politics, theatre, debate and library. Despite so many elements, the show does not lose its essence.
Taj Mahal 1989 has actors including Geetanjali Kulkarni, Neeraj Kabi, Sheeba Chaddha, Danish Hussain, Paras Priyadarshan, Anshul Chauhan, Anud Singh Dhaka, Shirin Sewani, Mihir Ahuja, and Vasundhra Rajput, in substantial roles.
Each and every actor has done justice to the character by bringing back nostalgia in every possible way – different ages, different kinds of lives and the different interpretations of love.
By mentioning about Faiz
Ahmad Faiz, Safdar Hashmi, and Sachin Tendulkar’s debut in international cricket, Taj Mahal 1989 successfully draws the relevance with the era it is representing.
The inner conflict of couples, be it Akhtar (Neeraj Kabi) and Sarita (Geetanjali Kulkarni), who are stuck in their middle class life; Sudhakar (Danish Husain) and Mumtaz (Sheeba Chadha), a couple presenting a different version of love and affection and the college students Rashmi (Anshul Chauhan) and Dharam (Paras Priyadarshan), who are struggling between love and sex, is very well portrayed.
The most amazing character, which will make you fall in love, is Angad (Anud Singh Dhaka), who totally presents the era before tinder. He is a friend, lover and man with lot of aspiration. Angad’s character has the journey from being cynical about love to falling in love with Mamta (Shirin Sewani). The track goes slow when it comes to Akhtar and Sarita, the couple could have get more screen time. The director smoothly connects all the characters with each other and eventually the series ends with the backdrop of Taj Mahal. Interestingly the first and last scene of the series is same, the show ended at point where it started – Taj Mahal, a symbol of monumental love.
The cinematography is just as amazing as its script, every frame has its own charm, specially when each character comes up with its own introduction in a single frame.
This is something very refreshing in the web series where the character expresses his/her inner feelings to the audience.
The dialogues are very well written as it draw its inspiration from the world Taj Mahal is set up, without losing the relevance with the contemporary time. The series will definitely make you fall for philosophy as Sudhakar said, “I read Philosophy to live the life.”
From college politics to figuring out the meanings of love and friendship, the series ‘Taj Mahal 1989’ is a refreshing treat for everyone.
The Netflix India original is the story of four couples of different age groups, dealing with the politics of love. It is a tribute to the year 1989, that in a sense, was the year of transformation. Set in Lucknow, Taj Mahal 1989 began streaming on Netflix from February 14