Oops! Ab Kya? is a breezy watch with a ‘convenient’ end

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The series world is suddenly replete with good non-thriller fare. No, I don’t mean the college yuppie tales that continue to be around but weightier life-like stories like Bada Naam Karenge and Dupahiya. Adding to this roster now is this Jio Hotstar offering, Oops! Ab Kya? Barely publicized, I stumbled upon this show by chance and was entranced from episode one itself.

In eight episodes that are breezy and luckily brisk, we get a very fresh and interesting story, of quirky human beings with their own kinks and great qualities. The climax is a shade convenient, but as they say, chand ko bhi daag hota hai (the moon too has a blemish on it!).

The core is not original. It is adapted from Jane the Virgin, an American drama that was itself a loose adaptation of the Venezuelan telenovela Juana la virgen created by Perla Farías. Obviously, the plot is suitably and very skillfully adapted here.

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Based on three generations of Gujarati women, Subhadra Jani (Apara Mehta, seen after eons), her unmarried daughter, Paakhi (Sonali Kulkarni) and Roohi (Shweta Basu Prasad), Paakhi’s daughter outside marriage, the series looks satirically, trenchantly as well as compassionately at social mores and hypocrisies and more while looking also at individuals who are tossed between what is right and what they like. Of course, we have two triangular love stories, oodles of sharp, witty humor, and a great glance at how Destiny can play tricks with simple, well-meaning human beings.

Roohi has promised her grandmother that she will preserve her virginity till her marriage. As of now, she is dating the loyal Omkar (Abhay Mahajan), an ace detective, for three years. When the story begins, Omkar is investigating a major crime, whose epicenter seems to be the hotel in which Roohi works.

Before we proceed, Roohi’s promise to her grandmother is because her mother had been ‘ditched’ by her boyfriend (Jaaved Jafferi) but has insisted on going ahead with her without informing him. Initially angry with Paakhi, Subhadra had happily accepted Roohi and the three women now live together, watching their favorite series in which the big star is Vanraj Kapoor (Jaaved Jafferi).

The hotel is owned by a man who dominates his son, Samar (Aashim Gulati), who now looks after it, and a timid gynecologist daughter who is a lesbian. In a shock after her relationship reaches a dead end, she makes a blunder by artificially inseminating Roohi who has just come for a check-up of a vaginal infection. It is only when her sister-in-law, Alisha (Amy Aela) is seen by her in the next room that she realizes her mistake.

Alisha and Samar are in a bad marriage but Samar is a testicular cancer survivor and she hopes that his last few sperms when healthy, which had been preserved carefully, will negate their troubles and lead to a happy marriage. There is an agenda there, however, that I will not reveal.

As it happens, all chaos breaks loose when Roohi comes to know that she is pregnant despite never having sex, and that too from her bosses’ sperm. The couple cajole her to keep the baby, her grandmother admonishes her for breaking her promise until she comes to know the truth, and finally, Roohi convinces her loyal and patient beau, Omkar, that things will be the same between them after she delivers the baby to its parents.

But life then throws a spanner into the works: Roohi starts liking Samar, and vice-versa! And Omkar comes to know that Samar’s hotel is the place where shady things are happening, and he is probably personally involved in the criminal activities. And last but not least, Vanraj comes to know that Roohi is his daughter, wants out from his unhappy marriage as love rekindles between Paakhi and him. As for Subhadra, Vanraj has been her favorite TV star, but Roohi has only dislike for the man who abandoned her mother and her…

The best aspect of Oops! Ab Kya is the consistent packaging of humor and satire (a commentary runs all through as well) and the absolute (for India) newness of the script. That everything happens within a coincidental small world is alright as the proceedings are suffused with the right mix of emotions, drama, thrills and, once again, humor and satire. The dialogues are the strong point, the background score and technical values add wonderful support and the directors should be commended for confidently steering this drama in all its aspects.

Shweta Basu Prasad, that volcano of talent who was first seen as the protagonist of Makdee (2002) and has since given sterling performances in Iqbal, Badrinath Ki Dulhania, The Tashkent Files, Comedy Couple, Criminal Justice Season 3 and Jubilee shows her formidable range of acting prowess in the easy yet complex role of Roohi.

Apara Mehta is her seasoned, skilled and endearing self, while Sonali Kulkarni is another powerhouse of talent as Paakhi. In an ‘ordinary man’s role, Abhay Mahajan is excellent, while Aashim Gulati is alright in his staid character. Jaaved Jafferi, again after the recent Mohrey, gets another quasi-quirky role and is brilliant. In a gray role, Amy Aela gives a good account of herself, and her resemblance to Katrina Kaif is so strong that a character actually mentions this in the series!

In smaller roles, the goon captured by Alisha and her mother, the actor who essays Samar’s best but scheming friend who is murdered, and Omkar’s lady associate are all effective, but it is the girl playing the doctor sister who stands out.

To Ab Kya? Go watch it!

Rating: ****

Jio Hotstar presents Dice Media’s Oops! Ab Kya? Produced by: Anirudh Pandita, Aditi Shrivastava, Ashwin Suresh & Nitesh Dixit   Directed by: Debatma Mandal & Prem Mistry  Written by: Suprith Kundar, Chirag Mahabal, Ayesha Nair & Devanshi Shah  Music: Simran Hora Starring: Shweta Basu Prasad, Sonali Kulkarni, Apara Mehta, Jaaved Jafferi, Aashim Gulati, Abhay Mahajan, Amy Aela, Vanshikha Taparia, (Voice-Over) Guru Haryani & others  

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