Amid all the rom-coms and crime dramas, we have a release that celebrates simple human stories, touches upon some important issues faced by women even today and has quirky characters. It is titled Dupahiya and is directed by Sonam Nair. The 9-episode series stars a stellar cast, including Renuka Shahane, Gajraj Rao, Sparsh Shrivastava, Bhuvan Arora, Shivani Raghuvanshi and Anjuman Saxena. Salona Bains Joshi and Shubh Shivdasani are the creators and executive producers of this show, and it is written by Avinash Dwivedi and Chirag Garg. While the story of this show is average, I honestly loved some characters and enjoyed the actors performing them. Here are some thoughts I had while watching the show.
1. The Story Is Average!
The setting of Dupahiya is very familiar. I could draw parallels with a show like Panchayat. The bond shared among the villagers, the simplicity of the village life and the dynamics between the characters, we have no surprises there. However, the series deals with social issues like dowry, colourism and patriarchy with satire but in a less impactful way. The whodunit angle to Dupahiya initially feels interesting but later on seems to be stretched a little too much!
2. Loved Some Characters!
I especially loved Sparsh Srivastava’s character. I think the characters are the strongest point of this series. They have peculiar traits, and the actor have also done justice to their respective roles.
3. Balance Of Emotions
Dupahiya has done a fantastic job in keeping a good balance between comedy and other emotional bits. We should also give credit to the actors for pulling that off with so much. There are scenes where the characters make some hard-hitting one-liner statements in jest, but they stay with you. We compliment the writing for that.
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4. Actors Don’t Disappoint
Gajraj Rao is always impressive in this role. While the actor is already very comfortable in such a genre, I am always taken aback by how smoothly he gets his comic timing right, and that too with a straight face! It was refreshing to see Renuka Shahane experiment with a different character in this series, and she thoroughly gets the UP accent right! Sparsh Srivastav is too good and gets to show his acting range in this series. His comic timing, dialogue delivery and the expressions are all on point. He surprises us with an act opposite Bhuvan Aora, but I won’t reveal that here! Other actors have also done a decent job!
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5. Unncessarily Streched!
Dupahiya could have been a little less on the episodes because, after a point, it feels stretched. I was looking for reasons to keep myself hooked to the show, but at the same time, I fast-forwarded through some bits. A few things in the story, especially the whole village ethics, feel redundant and overdone.
It’s currently streaming on Prime Video.