A typical millennial love story
Anya Singh and Nakuul Mehta reprise roles as besties in love in ‘Never Kiss Your Best Friend’
The second chapter in this frothy romcom delves deeper into the lives of its protagonists, Tanie (Anya Singh) and Sumer (Nakuul Mehta), who were best friends before Cupid’s arrow struck.
In the previous edition, they kissed and parted ways after a silly attempted kiss that was misconstrued for cheating, which led to the birth of this next chapter in their lives. This eight-episode rom-com takes off from where the first season left off, with a two-year leap thrown in.
Juggling between Mumbai and London, we witness Tanie and Sumer leading their own lives, romancing another set of individuals while pining for their first love, once again.
The characterisation in the series is a bit over-the-top, especially with Tanie being the giddy-headed girl, confused with where life is taking her. Her career as a writer is questionable, yet destiny brings her close to Sumer, the promising director who still has faith in her writing skills.
They team up to churn out a romantic web series for a production house helmed by Lavanya (Sarah Jane Dias) and her estranged brother Rajiv (Karanuday Jenjani).
The narrative soon gives way to a dreary menage a quatre at their workplace, which leads to heartbreaks and heart mends.
Running parallel to Tanie and Sumer’s tale is the romantic fare of Tanie’s uncle Bitu Mama (Jaaved Jaaferi).
Under the skilful direction of Harsh Dedhia, we get into the heads of the lovebirds as he directs the series with a frothy light-touch flair. While the series lacks any sort of artistic authority, there’s an ironic elegance to the show, with Tanie constantly breaking the fourth wall (looking into the camera and talking to the audience), which may be disconcerting to some.
Also, while most scenes are bright capturing, excellent moments in silos, they don’t mesh seamlessly in the narrative, and the mush dialogues are just too cliched.
The on-screen chemistry of the characters is palpable. Singh as Tanie is charming, and so is Mehta as Sumer; together they make an ideal pair of best friends who, at times, are amusing when they aren’t brooding.
Karan Wahi, as the actor Karan in the proposed web series, is steadfast in his histrionics as a brilliant actor insecure in love. Deepti Bhatnagar as his progressive mother who runs a restaurant in London is pleasant.
Jaaved Jaaferi as the demure and low-keyed Bitu Mama whose performance ranges from likably cartoonish to stone-faced is bad, but never quite boring.
Niki Walia as Tanie’s mom and Bitu’s sister Happy, is typical Punjabi in her demeanour, and she essays her role effortlessly. Dias and Sapna Pabbi (in a miniscule role) are short-changed by the script. Their stories do not have the depth to showcase their talent or tether the audience to them.
Rituraj Singh as Sumer’s dad, Karanuday Jenjani as Rajiv, Navaldeep Singh Arora as Sumer’s buddy Tittu are all stereotypical and staid in their performances.
Overall, the series has a whole lot of trivia and very little substance, but folks love trivia.