Rating : 3.7/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2020
Episodes : 6
Running time : 30 minutes (per episode)
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Director : Sonam Nair
Cast : Neena Gupta, Masaba Gupta, Neil Bhopalam, Rytasha Rathore, Sunita Rajwar, Smaran Sahu, Suchitra Pillai
Kid rating : PG-15
Podcast Review : Here
Masaba Masaba stars Neena Gupta and her daughter Masaba Gupta. And although they have the same names and the same professions as they do in real life – Neena is an actress and Masaba is a fashion designer – the series is fictional and I’ve got to say – good fun.
It is a short series – 6 episodes of about 30 minutes each, and very easily binge-able. Each episode brings up and resolves an issue in Masaba’s life. The good thing about Masaba Masaba is that her problems are not critical, life-threatening ones. Rather they relate to Masaba’s profession, love-life, friendships and her life in general – so kind of fluffy with some substance. Some of the episodes end up imparting life lessons for Masaba – and those she sums up in her prolific Instagram posts – and some don’t. You can think of it as India’s answer to Sex and The City except that there’s only one woman (and her mom) here instead of the 4 friends in that series. In fact Masaba Masaba is way more in the genre of Sex and The City than 4 More Shots Please! which was touted as that but turned out to be tiresome and contrived.
Masaba Gupta, whom I was only aware of as Neena Gupta and cricketer Viv Richards daughter, is in real-life and in this series a fashion designer with strong opinions. As the series starts Masaba is starting to own up to and deal with the fallout from her divorce. Masaba as an actress is confident, although her acting could take some honing. She does go all out on the dramatic bits – she groans a bit much and her eye-roll should be a meme 🙂 but she sure is fun to watch!
Neena Gupta, whom we last saw in the lovely series Panchayat, is in a class by herself. She makes everything better by just being in it, and Masaba Masaba is no different. As Masaba’s mom, support and biggest fan, and as actress Neena Gupta, Gupta gives a sterling performance. Her story track plays second fiddle to Masaba’s but is interesting nevertheless because it deals with potential real-life issues – the ageism in Bollywood, or the fact that there aren’t very many meaty roles available to older women artistes.
Rytasha Rathore plays Masaba’s best friend Gia with panache. And Neil Bhoopalam , whom you might remember from the fabulous NH10 or Shaitan, is fantastic as Masaba’s salt-and-pepper-haired, well-heeled investor, hounding Masaba to keep his investors happy.
I really liked the beautiful mother-daughter relationship in Masaba Masaba. Also lovely was the depiction of Masaba’s friendships, especially with Gia, who is trying to set up her own bar. What makes Masaba Masaba refreshing is the focus on Masaba herself – it is her life, and she’d like to live it on her own terms. Masaba is single by choice but she isn’t dragged down by societal expectations – it does help that she lives in a very stratified atmosphere of rich celebrity, and has a mom, to boot, who made very unconventional and seemingly controversial choices in her own life.
Masaba Masaba is also fresh because we see very few depictions of fancy-free, young women in India enjoying the single life without judgement. There are many films which do bromances well, but hardly any that do womances non-cringily. And it is nice to see a strong-willed, confident, lovely young woman unapologetically march to the tune of her own drumbeat.
Masaba Masaba does not do a deep-dive into its characters, nor does it depict the more serious/unpleasant issues that a Masaba or a Neena would potentially deal with in real life. It is breezy, and keeps its issues strictly at the philosophical level of a K-Jo film. It’s colorful, vibrant and energetic, and boils its essence down into nicely palatable bits about finding love and acceptance within yourself.
A lovely, fun watch – recommended.
